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Impact of clinical pharmacy services in a short stay unit of a hospital emergency department in Qatar

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Abstract

Background The presence of a clinical pharmacist in a hospital’s Emergency Department (ED) is important to decrease the potential for medication errors. To our knowledge, no previous studies have been conducted to evaluate the impact of implementing clinical pharmacy services in the ED in Qatar. Objective To characterize the contributions of clinical pharmacists in a short stay unit of ED in order to implement and scale-up the service to all ED areas in the future. Methods A retrospective study conducted for 7 months in the ED of Hamad General Hospital, Qatar. The intervention recommendations were made by clinical pharmacists to the physician in charge during medical rounds. Results A total of 824 documented pharmacist recommendations were analyzed. The interventions included the following: Providing information to the physician (24.4 %) and recommending medication discontinuation (22.0 %), dose adjustment (19.3 %), medication addition (16.0 %), changes in frequency of medications (7.6 %), medication resumption (5.7 %), and patient education (5.0 %). Conclusion Clinical pharmacists in the ED studied play an important role in patient care.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Sara Fouad, PharmD., Ahmed Abdel Moneim, MSc., and Mohamed Ahmed, MSc., for their participation in data collection and analysis. We also especially thank Ramzi Mohammad, PhD., for his support.

Funding

The study was funded by a grant from Hamad Medical Corporation.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar

    Hani Abdelaziz, Rasha Al Anany, Ashraf Elmalik, Mohammad Saad, Kirti Prabhu, Haleema Al-Tamimi, Salem Abu Salah & Peter Cameron

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  1. Hani Abdelaziz
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  2. Rasha Al Anany
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  3. Ashraf Elmalik
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  4. Mohammad Saad
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  5. Kirti Prabhu
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  6. Haleema Al-Tamimi
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  7. Salem Abu Salah
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  8. Peter Cameron
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hani Abdelaziz.

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Abdelaziz, H., Al Anany, R., Elmalik, A. et al. Impact of clinical pharmacy services in a short stay unit of a hospital emergency department in Qatar. Int J Clin Pharm 38, 776–779 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-016-0290-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-016-0290-9

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