Pharmacy staff interventions in a medical center hematology-oncology service.

OBJECTIVES

Many pharmaceutical care efforts remain undocumented, resulting in underestimation of the importance of the pharmacy staff interventions and missed opportunities to find new directions for quality improvement. The purpose of this project was to document and analyze the pharmaceutical care interventions of the staff of a hematology-oncology pharmacy.

DESIGN

Interventions were self-reported by pharmacy staff members. The data collection period was October 1, 1995, to May 31, 1996. Intervention analysis consisted to types of interventions performed, categories of personnel performing interventions, intervention acceptance rate by staff physicians, and medication cost avoidance.

PARTICIPANTS

This project was performed by the Hematology-Oncology Pharmacy Service, Department of Pharmacy, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

SETTING

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, a 1,000-bed teaching and research institution of the U.S. Army Medical Department.

RESULTS

Pharmacy staff reported 503 interventions. The leading categories of interventions were clinical consultations (167), correction of prescribing errors (85), and patient treatment procedures (65). The interventions were primarily initiated by oncology pharmacists and residents (68.8%) and oncology pharmacy technicians (30.6%). The intervention acceptance rate was 97%. Medication cost avoidance was $23,091.

CONCLUSION

A significant amount of pharmaceutical care was documented by the hematology-oncology pharmacy staff, with both oncology pharmacists and oncology pharmacy technicians making key contributions. The pharmacy staff's interventions had a high rate of acceptance by the medical and nursing staffs, and resulted in significant medication cost avoidance.