More involvement of pharmacists, shorter hospital stays

Can input from clinical pharmacist interventions impact upon length of hospital stay (LOS)? Recently published research suggests so. A high-quality study evaluated the impact of pharmacist-driven interventions on LOS across three practice areas (medicine, hematology/oncology, and paediatrics). Two time periods were evaluated: pre-implementation (PRE) and a pilot period, post-implementation of interventions (POST). Targeted discharge services including discharge prescription writing (with provider co-signature) were assessed. 924 patients (466 PRE and 458 POST) were assessed. The median LOS decreased from 4.95 (interquartile range = 3.24-8.5) to 4.12 (2.21-7.96) days from the PRE versus POST groups, respectively (P < 0.011). There was no difference in readmission rates between groups (21% vs 19.1%, P = 0.7). This research adds to the body of knowledge supporting more utilization of the skill set of hospital pharmacists – reduced length of hospital stay equates to economic benefit and enhanced patient safety. More details available here