Comprehensive medication discharge counseling service led by pharmacy students in the emergency department
Faculty Mentor
Billy Sin
Major/Area of Research
Pharmacy Practice
Description
Introduction: Safe and effective use of medication is vital to achieving optimal patient care outcomes. It has been commonly reported that medication nonadherence contribute to poor patient outcomes and economic burden. Promoting medication adherence from the inpatient to outpatient setting is of increasing focus. Medication non-adherence has been attributed to various reasons. To address this issue, transitions of care programs, led by pharmacists, are progressively incorporated into standard practice. Although there is literature which describes the impact of pharmacist-led transitions of care programs, none of the programs positioned pharmacy students as the primary caregivers. Most of the programs focused on were not specific to the Emergency Department (ED). The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the impact pharmacy students may have on ensuring safe and effective use of medications upon discharge from the ED.
Methods: This is a single-center, prospective, descriptive study conducted in the ED. The study is expected to last one year. The service is available three days in the week (Monday 9:30 am-2pm, Wednesday 12pm-4pm, Friday 11pm-4pm) The primary endpoint of the study is the number of patient who are readmitted to the ED within 30 days. Secondary endpoints include: number of patients who reported medication adherence during follow up phone call, number of patients who recall counseling points from first teach-back after medication education, number of interventions conducted by pharmacy students, number of interventions conducted by pharmacists, number of prescriptions filled, revenue generated from prescriptions dispensed by the outpatient pharmacy, patient satisfaction score at the end of the phone call.
Results: In this interim analysis, we were only able to evaluate the 30-day readmission rate in 12/23 (52%) of the patients as it has not been more than 30 days since the patient initially visited the ED. Of the 12 patients, 1 (8.4%) patient revisited the ED. Total revenue and profit generated by the service are $217 and $125, respectively. A total of 23 patients provided consent for our service. All patients who received counseling from a pharmacy intern had medication name recollection upon first attempt teach back. After initial counseling attempt with the teach-back method, all patients (100%) recalled the medication name and direction, 17 (74%) patients recalled medication dose, and 19 patients (83%) recalled medication indication. Patients reported no adverse effect on 48-72 hour call back. Patient satisfaction scores by the end of service were on average of 9.9/10. All patients indicated that they would recommend the service to their friends and/or family.
Conclusion: Preliminary results indicate that a comprehensive medication discharge counseling service led by pharmacy students shows demonstrates promise in promoting medication adherence, patient safety, patient satisfaction and financial viability.
Comprehensive medication discharge counseling service led by pharmacy students in the emergency department
Introduction: Safe and effective use of medication is vital to achieving optimal patient care outcomes. It has been commonly reported that medication nonadherence contribute to poor patient outcomes and economic burden. Promoting medication adherence from the inpatient to outpatient setting is of increasing focus. Medication non-adherence has been attributed to various reasons. To address this issue, transitions of care programs, led by pharmacists, are progressively incorporated into standard practice. Although there is literature which describes the impact of pharmacist-led transitions of care programs, none of the programs positioned pharmacy students as the primary caregivers. Most of the programs focused on were not specific to the Emergency Department (ED). The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the impact pharmacy students may have on ensuring safe and effective use of medications upon discharge from the ED.
Methods: This is a single-center, prospective, descriptive study conducted in the ED. The study is expected to last one year. The service is available three days in the week (Monday 9:30 am-2pm, Wednesday 12pm-4pm, Friday 11pm-4pm) The primary endpoint of the study is the number of patient who are readmitted to the ED within 30 days. Secondary endpoints include: number of patients who reported medication adherence during follow up phone call, number of patients who recall counseling points from first teach-back after medication education, number of interventions conducted by pharmacy students, number of interventions conducted by pharmacists, number of prescriptions filled, revenue generated from prescriptions dispensed by the outpatient pharmacy, patient satisfaction score at the end of the phone call.
Results: In this interim analysis, we were only able to evaluate the 30-day readmission rate in 12/23 (52%) of the patients as it has not been more than 30 days since the patient initially visited the ED. Of the 12 patients, 1 (8.4%) patient revisited the ED. Total revenue and profit generated by the service are $217 and $125, respectively. A total of 23 patients provided consent for our service. All patients who received counseling from a pharmacy intern had medication name recollection upon first attempt teach back. After initial counseling attempt with the teach-back method, all patients (100%) recalled the medication name and direction, 17 (74%) patients recalled medication dose, and 19 patients (83%) recalled medication indication. Patients reported no adverse effect on 48-72 hour call back. Patient satisfaction scores by the end of service were on average of 9.9/10. All patients indicated that they would recommend the service to their friends and/or family.
Conclusion: Preliminary results indicate that a comprehensive medication discharge counseling service led by pharmacy students shows demonstrates promise in promoting medication adherence, patient safety, patient satisfaction and financial viability.