Efficacy and Safety of Subcutaneous Neostigmine for Ileus, Acute Colonic Pseudo-obstruction, or Refractory Constipation.

BACKGROUND: Neostigmine is traditionally administered intravenously for treatment of acute colonic pseudo-obstruction (ACPO), though use is associated with administration constraints and adverse effects. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether an alternative route of administration for neostigmine via subcutaneous (SQ) delivery is safe and effective in a broad cohort of medical and surgical patients. METHODS: This multicenter, retrospective observational study included adult patients administered SQ neostigmine for ileus, ACPO, or refractory constipation. Efficacy indicators were time to first bowel movement (BM) following initiation of the medication, total SQ neostigmine dose administered to produce a BM, and administration of a rescue intervention to produce a BM. Safety events evaluated were cardiac arrest, bradycardia, bronchospasm requiring intervention, nausea requiring intervention, or severe salivation, lacrimation, or diarrhea. RESULTS: A total of 182 patients were eligible for inclusion. The most commonly utilized dosing strategy of neostigmine was 0.25 mg SQ 4 times daily. The median time to first BM following initiation of SQ neostigmine was 29.19 hours (interquartile range = 12.18-56.84) with a median dose administered before first BM of 1.25 mg. Three patients (1.65%) experienced an adverse drug event leading to drug discontinuation, with 2 developing bradycardia that resolved with drug discontinuation alone. CONCLUSIONS: SQ neostigmine may be reasonable for management of ileus, ACPO, or refractory constipation, though use should be avoided in patients with new-onset heart block, a history of second-degree heart block, or following bowel resection with primary anastomosis. Despite the low incidence of adverse drug events observed, monitoring for bradycardia with telemetry may be considered.

Inpatient pharmacists using a readmission risk model in supporting discharge medication reconciliation to reduce unplanned hospital readmissions: a quality improvement intervention.

INTRODUCTION: Reducing unplanned hospital readmissions is an important priority for all hospitals and health systems. Hospital discharge can be complicated by discrepancies in the medication reconciliation and/or prescribing processes. Clinical pharmacist involvement in the medication reconciliation process at discharge can help prevent these discrepancies and possibly reduce unplanned hospital readmissions. METHODS: We report the results of our quality improvement intervention at Duke University Hospital, in which pharmacists were involved in the discharge medication reconciliation process on select high-risk general medicine patients over 2 years (2018-2020). Pharmacists performed traditional discharge medication reconciliation which included a review of medications for clinical appropriateness and affordability. A total of 1569 patients were identified as high risk for hospital readmission using the Epic readmission risk model and had a clinical pharmacist review the discharge medication reconciliation. RESULTS: This intervention was associated with a significantly lower 7-day readmission rate in patients who scored high risk for readmission and received pharmacist support in discharge medication reconciliation versus those patients who did not receive pharmacist support (5.8% vs 7.6%). There was no effect on readmission rates of 14 or 30 days. The clinical pharmacists had at least one intervention on 67% of patients reviewed and averaged 1.75 interventions per patient. CONCLUSION: This quality improvement study showed that having clinical pharmacists intervene in the discharge medication reconciliation process in patients identified as high risk for readmission is associated with lower unplanned readmission rates at 7 days. The interventions by pharmacists were significant and well received by ordering providers. This study highlights the important role of a clinical pharmacist in the discharge medication reconciliation process.