Impact of Introducing Clinical Pharmacy Services in A Respiratory Diseases Clinic: A Report from North Cyprus

Abstract

Aims: The Implementation of Clinical Pharmacy Services (CPS) in hospitals is currently gaining attention in an effort to rationalize drug use in many developing countries. This study aims to introduce and evaluate ward-based CPS in a Respiratory Diseases clinic in North Cyprus and assess its efficacy and physician's perceptions toward the services. Study Design:  A prospective interventional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the respiratory clinic from 01 December 2013, to 30 January 2014 at Near East University Hospital, in Nicosia, North Cyprus. Methodology: Clinical Pharmacy Services (CPS) were introduced and documented over the study period of 60 days in a tertiary university hospital. DTPs and Interventions were documented and classified using DTP classification tool obtained from previous studies, and later evaluated by an independent clinical committee for their feasibility. Physician’s attitudes and perceptions were evaluated before for and after introducing CPS's using a questionnaire tool. Results: 82.35% of the targeted physician's sample have responded to baseline survey, (n=17) majority (92%) did not have any previous interaction with clinical pharmacists, they generally well perceived and had high expectations to pharmaceutical care services in general. This further enhanced the post-implementation of CPS. 118 interventions were carried during the program, 86.6% accepted and regarded as clinically relevant. Interventions mostly related to cardiovascular agents. Add/ change/stop medications were the most common type of interventions (21%). Most common resultant outcome was to avoid adverse effects or toxicities. The intervention was significantly related to the number of drugs used (r=0,487; p=0,006), the rate of acceptance significantly was higher to services compared to DRP interventions (p<0.005). Conclusion: The introduction of CPS's lead to clinically relevant and highly accepted optimization of medicine use in different wards and clinics including respiratory diseases clinic in the case of this study, it was relatively well perceived by physicians, but also could be more valued if more optimized and practiced by talented proactive clinical pharmacists within a multidisciplinary team.