Development of clinical pharmacy services for intensive care units in Korea.
OBJECTIVE
To be utilized for the development of pharmacists' intervention service by determining factors which affect pharmacists' prescription interventions.


METHODS
Patients who were admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in internal medicine departments in Korea.


METHODS
Data including age, gender, clinical departments, length of hospital stay, status of organ dysfunction, intervention status, frequently intervened drugs, and health care providers' questions were prospectively collected in ICUs in the department of internal medicine in a tertiary teaching hospital from January to December, 2012.


METHODS
Primary outcome was factors which affect pharmacists' prescription interventions. Secondary outcomes included frequencies of the intervention, intervention acceptance rates, intervention issues, and frequently intervened drugs.


RESULTS
A total of 1,213 prescription interventions were made for 445 patients (33.1%) of the 1,344 patients that were analyzed. Length of hospital stay was significantly longer for the group that needed pharmacists' interventions (p < 0.001). Pharmacists' intervention requirements were significantly higher in patients with kidney dysfunction (p < 0.001). The percentage of intervention accepted was 96.8%, and interventions that were common were as follows (in order): clinical pharmacokinetic service, dosage or dosing interval changes, dosing time changes or dose changes, and total parenteral nutrition consultation. The five medications with the highest intervened frequency were (in order) vancomycin, famotidine, ranitidine, meropenem, and theophylline.


CONCLUSIONS
The need for pharmacists' prescription interventions was highest among patients with longer length of stay and patients with kidney dysfunction. Based on these findings, prescription intervention activities could be initiated with severely ill patients. The results could be utilized in countries which are planning to develop pharmacists' intervention service.
College of Pharmacy & Division of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea ; Department of Pharmacy, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Jeong Mee
JM
Kim
Department of Pharmacy, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
So Jin
SJ
Park
Department of Pharmacy, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
You Min
YM
Sohn
Department of Pharmacy, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Young Mee
YM
Lee
Department of Pharmacy, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Catherine Seonghee
CS
Yang
College of Pharmacy & Division of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Hye Sun
HS
Gwak
College of Pharmacy & Division of Life and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Korea.
Byung Koo
BK
Lee
Clinical pharmacist; Intensive care unit; Intervention