Role of the Clinical

Pharmacist in Intensive
Care: Review of the
Evidence
Adnan Hajjiah

Critical Care Pharmacist

MSc Clinical Pharmacy, MPharm

Mubarak Al-Kabeer Hospital

Why the need for a clinical

?pharmacist in intensive care settings

Critically ill patients often have multisystem organ failure

Multisystem organ failure along with polypharmacy predispose to

medication toxicities

Co-morbidities, altered drug pharmacokinetics and drug-drug

interactions further enhance the risk for both overdosing and
underdosing and adverse medication events including acute kidney
injury, hepatotoxicity, neurological dysfunction and other end-organ
disturbances

Why the need for a clinical

?pharmacist in intensive care settings

The dynamic nature of intensive care units involving healthcare

professionals with different experiences and backgrounds allows for
great variability in patient care

Protocol development driven by clinical pharmacists can positively

impact such variability

Clinical pharmacy services

The profession of pharmacy has evolved over the past 50 years from
focusing solely on pharmaceutical products into a discipline that is more
patient-centered with special attention to optimal delivery of
pharmaceutical care

Curricula in most pharmacy colleges have changed significantly to

include courses in pharmacotherapeutics, pharmacokinetics,
pathophysiology, and Pharmacoeconomics to prepare graduates for
careers as clinicians

Evolution of critical care pharmacy

Clinical pharmacy services in critical care settings have expanded

dramatically and include assisting physicians in pharmacotherapy
decision making, providing pharmacokinetic consultations, monitoring
patients for efficacy and safety and providing drug information

During the 1980s, critical care pharmacists designed specialized training

programs and increased participation in critical care organizations
followed by developing standards for critical care residency

Several professional pharmacy organizations formed specialty groups

consisting of critical care pharmacists including: the American College of
Clinical Pharmacy and American Society of Health-System Pharmacists

Evolution of critical care pharmacy

In 1989, the Society of Critical Care Medicine acknowledged the

necessity and value of pharmacists as members of physician-led
multidisciplinary team

In 2000, the SCCM along with ACCP developed a position paper that
stratified clinical pharmacy services into three levels; namely
fundamental, desired and optimal services

Clinical Pharmacy Services

in Intensive Care

Numerous research articles have identified areas in which critical care

pharmacists make significant contributions to patient care

Most of this literature describes the responsibilities of these pharmacists as

follows:

Drug-use evaluation

Drug error management

In-service education

Pharmacokinetic consultations

Drug therapy monitoring

Written drug histories

Written documentation in medical records

Other activities

Therapeutic drug monitoring

Participation in patient care rounds

Prevention of drug-drug interactions

Prevention, minimization and management of ADRs

Provision of drug information and therapeutic consultation

Reduction in medication costs

Education of ICU professionals regarding drug-related aspects

Education of nursing staff for optimal administration/reconstitution

Development of medication protocols and policies to minimize errors and

improve outcomes

The evidence

Impact of clinical pharmacist in a

cardiac-surgery intensive care unit

Dec 2002 to May 2003

19-bed cardiac-surgery ICU at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and

Research Centre, Riyadh

The clinical pharmacist made 394 interventions (94% success rate)

No medication prescribed for medical condition (33%)

Inappropriate dosing regimen (28%)

No indication for use (14%)

Saudi Medical Journal 2008, Al-Jazairi AS et al.

Impact of clinical pharmacistenforced sedation protocol on

mechanical ventilation and hospital
stay
Before-after study (18 bed medical ICU)

Mean duration of mechanical ventilation reduced from 14 days to 7.4

days in the post-intervention group (p < 0.001)

Duration of both ICU and hospital stays were also significantly reduced
in the post-intervention group

Critical Care Medicine 2008, Marshall J.

Impact on preventable adverse drug

events (1)

Before-after comparison study

Medical ICU (study unit), CCU (control)

A senior pharmacist made rounds with the ICU team in the morning and was
available on call throughout the day

Within 9 months, the rate of preventable ADEs decreased by 66% from 10.4
per 1000 patient-days before the intervention to 3.5 following the intervention

In the control groups, rate remained unchanged

366 recommendations were made by the pharmacists with 99% acceptance

rate

Journal of American Medical Association 1999, Leape LL et al.

Impact on preventable adverse drug

events (2)

Intervention study

8.5 months in an adult medical and surgical ICU, the Netherlands

ICU hospital pharmacist made a total of 659 recommendations with consensus

rate of 74% between the pharmacist and physicians

Incidence of prescribing errors during intervention period was significantly lower

than baseline (62.5 per 1000 monitored patient-days versus 190.5 per 1000
monitored patient-days, p < 0.0001)

Preventable ADEs were reduced from 4.0 per 1000 monitored patient-days
during baseline period to 1.0 per 1000 monitored patients-days during the
intervention period (p = 0.25)

Critical Care 2010, Klopotowska JE et al.

Impact on drug therapy costs (1)

Tertiary care teaching hospital

Over a 7 month period

117 recommendations were made (94% acceptance rate)

Total net cost savings was USD 1796.73

Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapeutics 2012, Lucca JM et al.

Impact on drug therapy costs (2)

Before-after comparative study

Al-Hussein Hospitals ICU, Jordan

10 months period

Total reduction of drug therapy costs was USD 211574.9 representing an

average of 35.8% reduction when compared to the first period

Saudi Pharmaceutical Journal 2013, Aljbouri TM, et al.

Impact on drug therapy costs (3)

Intervention study

Surgical ICU

Over 4.5 months

A total of 129 interventions were documented

Potential cost avoidance of documented interventions was USD 209,919

280,421

American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy 2007, Kopp BJ et al.

Interventions In Mubarak AlKabeer Hospital Intensive

Care Unit

Interventions made

In a random 52-week period, a total of 243 successful interventions were

made

Percentage of dose and frequency adjustments consisted of 40% of the

total number of interventions

Percentage of pharmaceutical consultation 54%

Medication reviews and reconciliation 6%

Interventions made (contd)

Interventions involving antibiotic therapy (including choice, dose,

frequency, monitoring and duration of treatment) accounted for 30% of
all interventions

Antihypertensives and antifungals accounted for 10% of total

interventions (choice, dose adjustments and switching between oral and
intravenous formulations)

Recommendations

Establishment of specialized clinical pharmacy programs in intensive

care settings in collaboration between intensive care professionals and
the pharmacy department

Participation of dedicated pharmacists preferably with postgraduate

training in clinical pharmacy services

Summary

Critical care pharmacists are crucial members in the ICU

multidisciplinary team

Provided with adequate training, critical care pharmacists can reduce

prescribing errors, preventable ADEs and medication costs with potential
improvement in patient outcomes