Development of a Pharmacy Technician-Driven Program to Improve Vaccination Rates at an Academic Medical Center.

Background: Influenza and pneumococcal disease contribute substantially to the burden of preventable disease in the United States. Despite quality measures tied to immunization rates, health systems have struggled to achieve these targets in the inpatient setting. Pharmacy departments have had success through implementation of pharmacist standing order programs (SOP); however, these initiatives are labor-intensive and have not resulted in 100% immunization rates. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate a pilot utilizing pharmacy technician interventions, in combination with a nursing SOP, to improve vaccination rates of hospitalized patients for influenza and pneumococcal disease. Methods: A process was developed for pharmacy technicians to identify patients who were not previously screened or immunized during the weekend days on the Cardiovascular Progressive Care unit at the University of Kansas Health-System. Targeted pharmacy technician interventions consisted of phone call reminders and face-to-face discussions with nursing staff. The primary study outcome was the change in immunization compliance rates between the control and intervention groups. Results: Influenza vaccine rates showed a statistically significant increase from 72.2% (52 of 72) of patients during the control group to 92.9% (65 of 70, P = .001) of patients during the intervention group. A pneumococcal vaccination rate of 81.3% (61 of 75) was observed in the control group, compared with 84.3% (59 of 70) of patients in the intervention group (P = .638). Conclusion: An improvement in inpatient influenza immunization rates can be achieved through targeted follow-up performed by pharmacy technicians, in combination with a nursing-driven SOP.

An accelerated, practice-based model for fostering precepting skills in pharmacy residents.

Sound precepting skills are vitally important for all pharmacists and for the future of our profession. Residency training provides a fertile environment for the resident to learn and foster new skills. This article outlines an accelerated model for developing precepting skills in residents and provides helpful advice for residents seeking to gain experience as a preceptor.

Effects of a hospitalwide pharmacy practice model change on readmission and return to emergency department rates.

PURPOSE: The impact of an innovative medication reconciliation and discharge education program on 30-day readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits was evaluated. METHODS: An observational pre-post analysis was conducted at an academic medical center to compare rates of hospital readmissions and return to ED visits during three-month periods before and after implementation of a restructured pharmacy practice model including (1) medication reconciliation at transitions of care for every patient and discharge education for a high-risk subgroup, (2) new or expanded services in the preanesthesia testing clinic and ED, (3) a medication reconciliation technician team, and (4) pharmacist-to-patient ratios of 1:30 on acute care floors and 1:18 on critical care units. The primary outcome was the composite of rates of readmissions and return to ED visits within 30 days of discharge. RESULTS: A total of 3,316 patients were included in the study. Pharmacy teams completed medication reconciliation in 95.8% of cases at admission and 69.7% of cases at discharge. Discharge education was provided to 73.5% of high-risk patients (defined as those receiving anticoagulation therapy or treatment for acute myocardial infarction, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, or pneumonia). No significant difference was observed between the preimplementation and postimplementation groups with regard to the primary outcome. In the high-risk subgroup, there was a significant reduction in the 30-day rate of hospital readmissions, which declined from 17.8% to 12.3% (p=0.042); cost projections indicated that this reduction in readmissions could yield annual direct cost savings of more than $780,000. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a team-based pharmacy practice model resulted in a significant decrease in the rate of 30-day readmissions for high-risk patients.

Acceptance of recommendations by inpatient pharmacy case managers: unintended consequences of hospitalist and specialist care.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether recommendations made by pharmacists and accepted by hospital physicians resulted in fewer postdischarge readmissions and urgent care visits compared with recommendations that were not implemented. DESIGN: Prospective substudy of pharmacist recommendations. SETTING: Tertiary care academic medical center and private community-based physician practices and community pharmacies. PATIENTS: A total of 192 patients aged 18 years or older who were a subsample of a randomized, prospective study, who were admitted with a previous diagnosis of one of nine cardiovascular or pulmonary diseases or diabetes mellitus or had received oral anticoagulation therapy and who were discharged to community-based care provided by private physicians and community pharmacists. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Pharmacy case managers performed evaluations for patients and made recommendations to inpatient physicians. Patients received drug therapy counseling, a drug therapy list, and a wallet card at discharge. Data were collected from patients and private physicians for 90 days after discharge. Pharmacy case managers made 546 recommendations to inpatient physicians for 187 patients (97%). Overall, 260 (48%) of the 546 recommendations were accepted. The acceptance rate was lower for patients who had an urgent care visit compared with the other patients (33.6% vs 52.2%, p=0.033). High acceptance rates were noted for updating the record after medication reconciliation (36 patients [78%]) and when there was an actual allergy (2 [100%] of 2 patients) or medication error (2 [100%] of 2 patients). Physicians were less likely to accept recommendations related to drug indications (p<0.001), drug efficacy (p=0.041), and therapeutic drug and disease state monitoring (p=0.011). Recommendations made for patients with a relatively greater number of drugs were also less likely to be accepted (p=0.003). CONCLUSION: Recommendations to reconcile medications or address actual drug allergies or medication errors were frequently accepted. However, only 48% of all recommendations were accepted by inpatient physicians, and there was no impact on health care use 90 days after discharge. This study suggests that recommendations by pharmacy case managers were underused, and the low acceptance rate may have reduced the potential to avoid readmissions.