title: Analysis of cost avoidance from pharmacy students' clinical interventions at a psychiatric hospital.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the cost avoidance resulting from clinical interventions made by pharmacy students completing an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) at a psychiatric hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective database review of documented clinical interventions by pharmacy students was conducted to classify interventions by type and significance. Interventions were assigned a cost avoidance value determined by an evaluation of the literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred-twenty interventions were documented by 15 pharmacy students during the 1-year study period. The majority of interventions were related to psychiatric medication classes and most (n = 197; 61.6%) were classified as being of moderate significance. The most common interventions included patient education (13.1%), order clarification (11.6%), therapeutic dosing adjustments (10.9%), and laboratory order monitoring (8.8%). The estimated cost avoidance from all interventions made by pharmacy students was approximately $23,000.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacy students completing APPEs at a psychiatric hospital contributed to a variety of significant clinical interventions and provided considerable cost avoidance value to the institution.
authors: Center for Behavioral Medicine, Kansas City, MO, USA.
authors: Austin R
authors: AR
authors: Campbell
authors: Leigh Anne
authors: LA
authors: Nelson
authors: Ellie
authors: E
authors: Elliott
authors: Robin
authors: R
authors: Hieber
authors: Roger W
authors: RW
authors: Sommi
mesh_terms: D017046:Cost Savings; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004512:Education, Pharmacy / Q000458:organization & administration; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013339:Students, Pharmacy