OBJECTIVES: To develop a database for documenting pharmacist intervention through a web-based application. The secondary endpoint was to determine if the new, web-based application provides any benefits with regards to documentation compliance by clinical pharmacists and ease of calculating cost savings compared with our previous method of documenting pharmacist interventions. SETTING: A tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia. METHOD: The documentation of interventions using a web-based documentation application was retrospectively compared with previous methods of documentation of clinical pharmacists' interventions (multi-user PC software). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The number and types of interventions recorded by pharmacists, data mining of archived data, efficiency, cost savings, and the accuracy of the data generated. RESULTS: The number of documented clinical interventions increased from 4,926, using the multi-user PC software, to 6,840 for the web-based application. On average, we observed 653 interventions per clinical pharmacist using the web-based application, which showed an increase compared to an average of 493 interventions using the old multi-user PC software. However, using a paired Student's t-test there was no statistical significance difference between the two means (P = 0.201). Using a χ² test, which captured management level and the type of system used, we found a strong effect of management level (P < 2.2 × 10⁻¹⁶) on the number of documented interventions. We also found a moderately significant relationship between educational level and the number of interventions documented (P = 0.045). The mean ± SD time required to document an intervention using the web-based application was 66.55 ± 8.98 s. Using the web-based application, 29.06% of documented interventions resulted in cost-savings, while using the multi-user PC software only 4.75% of interventions did so. The majority of cost savings across both platforms resulted from the discontinuation of unnecessary drugs and a change in dosage regimen. Data collection using the web-based application was consistently more complete when compared to the multi-user PC software. CONCLUSIONS: The web-based application is an efficient system for documenting pharmacist interventions. Its flexibility and accessibility, as well as its detailed report functionality is a useful tool that will hopefully encourage other primary and secondary care facilities to adopt similar applications.
OBJECTIVES: To develop a database for documenting pharmacist intervention through a web-based application. The secondary endpoint was to determine if the new, web-based application provides any benefits with regards to documentation compliance by clinical pharmacists and ease of calculating cost savings compared with our previous method of documenting pharmacist interventions. SETTING: A tertiary care hospital in Saudi Arabia. METHOD: The documentation of interventions using a web-based documentation application was retrospectively compared with previous methods of documentation of clinical pharmacists' interventions (multi-user PC software). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The number and types of interventions recorded by pharmacists, data mining of archived data, efficiency, cost savings, and the accuracy of the data generated. RESULTS: The number of documented clinical interventions increased from 4,926, using the multi-user PC software, to 6,840 for the web-based application. On average, we observed 653 interventions per clinical pharmacist using the web-based application, which showed an increase compared to an average of 493 interventions using the old multi-user PC software. However, using a paired Student's t-test there was no statistical significance difference between the two means (P = 0.201). Using a χ² test, which captured management level and the type of system used, we found a strong effect of management level (P < 2.2 × 10⁻¹⁶) on the number of documented interventions. We also found a moderately significant relationship between educational level and the number of interventions documented (P = 0.045). The mean ± SD time required to document an intervention using the web-based application was 66.55 ± 8.98 s. Using the web-based application, 29.06% of documented interventions resulted in cost-savings, while using the multi-user PC software only 4.75% of interventions did so. The majority of cost savings across both platforms resulted from the discontinuation of unnecessary drugs and a change in dosage regimen. Data collection using the web-based application was consistently more complete when compared to the multi-user PC software. CONCLUSIONS: The web-based application is an efficient system for documenting pharmacist interventions. Its flexibility and accessibility, as well as its detailed report functionality is a useful tool that will hopefully encourage other primary and secondary care facilities to adopt similar applications.
Authors: Donald H Lynx; Heather R Brockmiller; Rita T Connelly; Stephanie Y Crawford Journal: Am J Health Syst Pharm Date: 2003-11-15 Impact factor: 2.637
Authors: A H Mutnick; K J Sterba; J A Peroutka; N E Sloan; E A Beltz; M K Sorenson Journal: Am J Health Syst Pharm Date: 1997-02-15 Impact factor: 2.637
Authors: Brent I Fox; Bill G Felkey; Bruce A Berger; Kem P Krueger; Rex Kelly Rainer Journal: Am J Health Syst Pharm Date: 2007-07-15 Impact factor: 2.637
Authors: Abdulrazaq S Al-Jazairi; Amal A Al-Agil; Yousif A Asiri; Tariq A Al-Kholi; Nathem S Akhras; Bashar K Horanieh Journal: Saudi Med J Date: 2008-02 Impact factor: 1.484