PHARMACEUTICAL CARE SERVICES IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT: A PLACE FOR CLINICAL PHARMACISTS
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Date
2024-01-04
Authors
Husameddin Nizar Fadil Bali
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Abstract
Abstract
This study was conducted to assess the views and opinions of the physicians, nurses, and patients about the inclusion of the clinical pharmacists within the multidisciplinary care team in the emergency department.
This study was conducted in a cross-sectional design in different governmental and private hospitals with functional emergency departments in the West Bank of Palestine. The study tool was a questionnaire that was developed based on previous studies. The questionnaire used among the healthcare professionals contained 23 items and the questionnaire used among the patients contained 9 items.
In this study, a total of 321 healthcare professionals and 309 patients were included. The majority of the healthcare professionals and patients agreed that clinical pharmacists can play key roles in improving medication safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and improvements in outcomes of the patients. The pharmacists who were surveyed in this study reported more agreements compared to the physicians and nurses (p-value < 0.001). In addition, younger healthcare professionals rated the roles of the clinical pharmacists in the emergency departments higher that older healthcare professionals (p-value < 0.025). Further more, a significant difference was found in level of education (p=<0.001) health care professionals who held Master and Bachelor’s Degrees have reported the highest important roles of clinical pharmacists in emergency departments. There was no significant association between the demographics of the patients and their views and opinions about the inclusion of the clinical pharmacists within the multidisciplinary care team in the emergency department.
Physicians, nurses, and patients valued and appreciated the roles that can be played by clinical pharmacists in the emergency departments. The roles of the clinical pharmacists in the emergency departments are consistent with the traditional, expanding, and new roles of the clinical pharmacists in hospitalized patient settings. These roles include provision of direct and patient-centered care services. The perceived benefits of inclusion of clinical pharmacists within the multidisciplinary care team in the emergency department include improved medication safety, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and patient outcomes.
Keywords: Clinical pharmacy, Emergency, Patient-centered care, Pharmacist, Survey