Evaluation of pharmacists' participation in post-admission ward rounds in a tertiary hospital in South-West Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

Many patients on admission have limited mobility and need physical examination by the clinical team. Ward rounds serve as an avenue for health professionals to meet and develop an integrated plan of care for the inpatients. Lack of representation for certain professional groups, including pharmacy, may adversely affect the range of opinions and therapies for patients.

OBJECTIVE

The study evaluates pharmacist's perception of and participation in post-admission ward rounds, at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH).

METHOD

All the 60 pharmacists covering various units of pharmaceutical services were administered a forty-two element structured questionnaire. Fifty (83.3%) pharmacists completed the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and chi-square were used to analyse the collated data.

RESULTS

Pharmacists had positive perception of their participation in ward rounds, some of whom were already involved in the exercise on a low scale. Peer reviews of patients' cases were frequently conducted and were usually dominated by the medical staff. The clinical role of the pharmacists is not clearly defined in respect to ward round. Their current impact in patient care activities during ward round is not significant.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacists should be scheduled to participate actively in ward rounds, peer reviews and other professional activities, for optimum patient care. The hospital authorities should optimise the involvement of pharmacists in the paradigm shift towards pharmaceutical care, with a view to minimizing prescribing errors, cost of drugs and length of hospital stay. The use of preceptors should be explored.