AbstractsMedical & Health Science

Background: Hospital pharmacists make clinical interventions as part of their services to optimize medication therapy, but only few are believed to be documented in notebooks or records kept in the pharmacy. Such documentation may be accessible only to few pharmacists who know about it. This makes it difficult for other health professionals involved in managing the patient to acknowledge and utilize the intervention made to optimize patient care unless notified verbally. Aim: To determine if pharmacists are involved in undertaking healthcare and/or drug therapy interventions at KATH; and if so, how the interventions are documented or could be documented and kept as part of the patient records maintained in the hospital including case notes. Methods: All pharmacists employed at KATH were targeted for inclusion in this study which started from 7th April, 2014 to 9th May, 2014. A structured questionnaire was designed and used to collect data through face-to-face interviews and review of case notes and other records on clinical interventions made by the pharmacists at KATH. Results: All the pharmacists studied claimed that they had made an intervention before. Sixtyone percent (n=35) indicated that their recommendations to the medical team were always taken. Thirty-one percent (n=22) claimed their recommendations were not always taken. Forty-five percent (n=26) documented their interventions but not in patients’ folders, 32 %( n=18) documented it occasionally and 23 %( n=13) did not document the interventions at all. Based on extensive search and responses obtained, a model clinical intervention form was designed to be kept in patient folders to record pharmacists’ notes/interventions for optimal patient care. Conclusion: Pharmacists at KATH do make clinical interventions as part of their services for pharmaceutical care. More than half do not often document the clinical interventions made. The vi | P a g e majority have noted that their services were recognized. A model intervention form was designed to help the pharmacist keep record of their interventions made in patients’ folders. This was reviewed by Faculty members and some senior pharmacists at KATH and has been recommended for widespread use to document interventions made by pharmacists. A thesis submitted to the Department of Clinical and Social Pharmacy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Of MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN CLINICAL PHARMACY. 2015 KNUST