Clinical pharmacists’ interventions on the appropriate prescription of corticosteroids at a medical center in Vietnam between 2022 and 2023

Abstract

Context: The appropriate description of corticosteroids is an important issue in hospitals because this is a widely used drug. Clinical pharmacists’ interventions can help improve the rational prescription of corticosteroids. Aims: To evaluate clinical pharmacists’ interventions on appropriate prescription of corticosteroids at a medical center in Vietnam from 2022 to 2023. Methods: An interventional and cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from January 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023. Results: There were 726 patients (363 patients before intervention and 363 patients after intervention) and 22 doctors included in this study. The proportion of appropriate prescriptions of corticosteroids increased from 89% in pre-intervention to 96.4% in post-intervention. The portion of appropriate prescriptions of corticosteroids regarding contraindications went up from 62.5% in pre-intervention to 83.2% in post-intervention. The percentage of appropriate prescriptions of corticosteroids in terms of dosage and usage rose from 69.1% in pre-intervention to 85.7% in post-intervention. The general rationality grew from 46.3% to 81.3%. Doctors aged less than 30 years old with a bachelor’s degree, 2-5 years of working experience, and not participating in training were more likely to prescribe corticosteroids inappropriately than other groups (p<0.05). Conclusions: Clinical pharmacists' interventions have increased the rate of appropriate corticosteroid prescriptions at a medical center in Vietnam. Effective clinical pharmacists’ interventions help improve the percentage of appropriate use of corticosteroids, so they need to be concerned in the future.