Clinical Pharmacy Surveillance—Rethinking the Pharmacy Practice Model

In 2021, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in their Pharmacy Forecast recommended that to achieve optimal results for patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases, pharmacist leaders should develop comprehensive medication management services. To that end, L. Hayley Burgess, PharmD, BCPP, and colleagues implemented a clinical surveillance technology program and observed the results of this initiative on practice management.

From 2015 to 2021, the program grew to 177 hospitals and was monitored with data points gathered on the frequency of drug therapy modifications, pharmacist response times, clinical pharmacy metrics results, and return on investment. The results of this observational study were published in HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine. Dr. Burgess shared the findings of this work with Physician’s Weekly.

PW: Why did pharmacy practice models in hospitals need to be re-examined?

Dr. Burgess: Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to provide medication management services, and studies have shown that pharmacist-delivered patient care services can improve patient outcomes, increase cost efficiency, and reduce demands affecting the healthcare system. However, hospital pharmacy departments often must balance operational and clinical activities, which may dramatically reduce the amount of time pharmacists are able to dedicate to the patient care process. We successfully redesigned pharmacy services by integrating clinical pharmacy surveillance technology to focus on improving patient outcomes and optimizing processes to enhance patient-centered care with a more efficient workflow.

Read more of this article at Physician’s Weekly.