title: Impact of clinical pharmacists in the emergency department of an Australian public hospital: A before and after study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of an ED pharmacy service on ED clinical staff and hospital pharmacist activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study measuring pharmacist activities and surveying ED staff attitudes and experience before and after commencement of an ED pharmacy service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 2275 and 2072 hospital-wide pharmacist occasions of service recorded over a 1 month period before and after implementation of the ED pharmacy service, respectively; 339 (16.4%) of these occurred in the ED post-implementation. ED pharmacists most commonly were involved in obtaining medication histories (74% of ED occasions of service); 43% of all pharmacist-performed medication histories occurred in the ED. Post-implementation of the service, 26% of medication interventions occurred in the ED with the number of medication errors identified by ward pharmacists decreasing by 11%; 59% of ED pharmacist medication interventions were clinically significant. ED clinicians perceived the greatest impact of the service to be on patient education and medication safety. Qualitative feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pharmacy staff can rapidly become a vital component of clinical service provision in the ED, contributing to medication safety from the point of patient entry into the hospital and impacting ED clinicians and whole of hospital activity for pharmacists.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Redcliffe Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Proper
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Redcliffe Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Annie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Redcliffe Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Alice E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Plath
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Redcliffe Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.|Department of Pharmacy, Townsville Hospital and Health Service, School of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Kirsty A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacy, Redcliffe Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Derek W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Just
authors.affiliation: Medical Administration, Redcliffe Hospital, The School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Joel M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dulhunty
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010595:Pharmacists; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D011446:Prospective Studies; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011793:Queensland
keywords: medication safety; pharmacist; survey