The impact of a clinical pharmacist in an interprofessional intensive care unit recovery clinic providing care to intensive care unit survivors

Abstract

Introduction: Intensive care unit (ICU) survivors are vulnerable to further health deterioration and medication-related problems (MRPs) with a high rate of potentially preventable hospital readmissions and late death. Therefore, it is critical to identify MRPs of ICU survivors post-hospitalization. ICU-recovery clinics (ICU-RCs) have been proposed as a potential mechanism to address the unmet needs of ICU survivors, and pharmacists should be key members of ICU-RCs. Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a pharmacist in an interprofessional ICU-RC on MRPs. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in adult ICU survivors with sepsis/septic shock and/or respiratory failure. This study compared MRPs within 6 months of post-hospital discharge between intervention and control groups. The intervention group included patients who were seen by a pharmacist in an ICU-RC. MRPs and interventions between initial and 6-month follow-up visits in the intervention group were also evaluated. Results: Data were collected for 52 control and 52 intervention patients. There were no significant differences in baseline demographics and hospital characteristics between groups. Eighty-four MRPs were identified in the control vs 110 in the intervention group (P =.37). Half of patients in control and intervention groups had at least one MRP identified (P =.69). There was a significant decrease in mean number of MRPs at the 6-month follow-up visit (3.5 ± 1.7 with initial vs 2.4 ± 1.3 with follow-up visit; P =.025) in the intervention group. Almost all patients in initial and follow-up visits had at least one MRP. Conclusions: Dedicated ICU-RC pharmacists in an interprofessional ICU-RC can assist with addressing and intervening on MRPs which could further impact clinical outcomes in ICU survivors.