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Medication Reviews by Clinical Pharmacists at Hospitals Lead to Improved Patient Outcomes: A Systematic Review
Author(s) -
Graabæk Trine,
Kjeldsen Lene Juel
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1742-7843
pISSN - 1742-7835
DOI - 10.1111/bcpt.12062
Subject(s) - cinahl , medicine , medline , cochrane library , psychological intervention , pharmacist , randomized controlled trial , sample size determination , systematic review , family medicine , meta analysis , pharmacy , nursing , surgery , statistics , mathematics , political science , law
Suboptimal medication use may lead to morbidity, mortality and increased costs. To reduce unnecessary patient harm, medicines management including medication reviews can be provided by clinical pharmacists. Some recent studies have indicated a positive effect of this service, but the quality and outcomes vary among studies. Hence, there is a need for compiling the evidence within this area. The aim of this systematic M ini R eview was to identify, assess and summarize the literature investigating the effect of pharmacist‐led medication reviews in hospitalized patients. Five databases ( MEDLINE , EMBASE , CINAHL , W eb of S cience and the C ochrane L ibrary) were searched from their inception to 2011 in addition to citation tracking and hand search. Only original research papers published in E nglish describing pharmacist‐led medication reviews in a hospital setting including minimum 100 patients or 100 interventions were included in the final assessment. A total of 836 research papers were identified, and 31 publications were included in the study: 21 descriptive studies and 10 controlled studies, of which 6 were randomized controlled trials. The pharmacist interventions were well implemented with acceptance rates from 39% to 100%. The 10 controlled studies generally show a positive effect on medication use and costs, satisfaction with the service and positive as well as insignificant effects on health service use. Several outcomes were statistically insignificant, but these were predominantly associated with low sample sizes or low acceptance rates. Therefore, future research within this area should be designed using rigorous design, large sample sizes and includes comparable outcome measures for patient health outcomes.