The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7492 p268
8 March 2008

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Clinical pharmacists save money and lives

Clinical pharmacists are saving lives and generating massive savings to drug budgets, said Lars Heslet, medical director of intensive care, National University Hospital, Copenhagen.

Speaking at the annual conference of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists in Maastricht, Professor Heslet highlighted evidence that pharmacists were improving patient morbidity and mortality as part of the clinical team. A recent US study investigated the effect of using a pharmacist to ensure that sedative therapy, when used in intensive care patients, was reduced in accordance with locally agreed protocols.

Results showed a reduction in mechanical ventilation time, duration of intensive care and duration of hospital stay for the patient (Critical Care Medicine 2008;36:427).

Another study, published in 2003, showed that clinical pharmacy interventions reduced the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia from 40 cases per 1,000 ventilator days to 12 cases (Intensive Care Medicine 2003;29:691). Ventilator-associated pneumonia is fatal in 40 per cent of cases.

A clinical pharmacist started working in Professor Heslet’s department in June 2004. Before the appointment, the department’s drug budget was $127,000 per month. Since the appointment, the budget has reduced to $110,000 per month. These savings have resulted from changing the standard drug formulary, ceasing drug treatment as soon as it is no longer necessary and optimising drug mixing protocols to reduce administration errors.

“This amounts to a saving of around $200,000 per year. Can you really afford not to employ a clinical pharmacist,” he asked conference attendees, and when asked whether he would choose a pharmacist over another doctor on his team said “yes”.

A report of the EAHP conference will appear in the April 2008 edition of Hospital Pharmacist