Journal of Research in Pharmacy Practice

Clinical pharmacy services in an Iranian teaching hospital: Type, severity, resolution, and accuracy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Zahra Allameh 1
. Maryam Mehrpooya 2
. Shadi Baniasadi 3
. Fanak Fahimi 4

1 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

2 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Pharmaceutical Care, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Department of Pharmaceutical Care, Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Masih Daneshvari Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract
Objective: Clinical pharmacy services are improving in hospitals. For assessing the impact 
of these services, first it is important to exactly describe them by categorizing into types, 
severity, resolution, and accuracy. The objective of this study is to provide a detailed analysis 
of the clinical pharmacists’ services performed on in‑patients in a teaching hospital during 
28 months. Setting: Masih Daneshvari hospital, Tehran, Iran.
Methods: This is a descriptive study. The authors retrospectively reviewed the notes of 
all services and entered them in a designed SPSS sheet. Documentation was carried out 
based on the “findings, assessment, resolution, and monitoring” method. The data were 
descriptively analyzed. Main outcome measure: Types, subtypes, severities, resolutions, and 
accuracies of services were defined, documented, and analyzed.
Findings: In total 3152 records(2227 interventions and 925 visits with no intervention) were 
classified and analyzed in this study. Among all types of interventions, “improper medication 
use” (36.2%) was the most frequent intervention and among categories (subgroups) of 
“improper medication use,” “untreated indication” was the most frequent (23.7%). From the 
aspect of severity, 75.4% of interventions were estimated as of minor potential inconvenience 
to the patient (severity degree 1). Most interventions (78%) were finally recommended to 
the prescriber and 97.6% of interventions were considered accurate on further evaluation.
Conclusion: Clinical pharmacists’ interventions are highly demanded in the hospitals. Based 
on the results of this study, conditions needing medication to prevent later complications 
in the course of therapy are sometimes ignored, which emphasizes the positive role of the 
clinical pharmacists’ involvements in clinical teams to improve outcome.

Keywords

Clinical pharmacy services
documentation
pharmaceutical care
pharmacist
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Journal of Research in Pharmacy Practice
Volume 2, Issue 1
Winter 2013
Pages 10-17

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