Did You Know?

Pharmacists:

• Improve patient safety,
• Boost clinical outcomes, and
• Reduce health care costs.

Here’s How:

“Because of the immense variety and complexity of medications now available, it is impossible for nurses or doctors to keep up with all of the information required for safe medication use. The pharmacist has become an essential resource…and thus, access to his or her expertise must be possible at all times.”
— To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Institute of Medicine, 1999

A recent study showed that as the number of pharmacists involved in patient care rose in U.S. hospitals, medication-error rates dropped from an average of 700 per hospital per year to 245 per hospital per year—a 65 percent decrease.
— Pharmacotherapy, 2002: 22(2): 134-47.

“Seventy-eight percent fewer preventable adverse drug events occurred among patients in a hospital’s general medicine unit when a pharmacist participated in weekday medical rounds.”
— Archives of Internal Medicine, 2003; 163(17):2014-8.

“Preventable adverse drug events in an ICU decreased by 66 percent when a pharmacist was present on rounds as a full member of the patient-care team.”
— Journal of the American Medical Association, 1999; 282(3):267-70.

Pharmacists providing pharmaceutical care in 1,000 U.S. hospitals saved nearly 400 lives and $5.1 billion in health care costs.
— Pharmacotherapy, 1999; 19(2):130-8; Pharmacotherapy, 2000; 20(6):609-21.

“As the major resource for drug information, pharmacists are much more valuable to the patient-care team if they are physically present at the time decisions are being made and orders are being written.”
— To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, Institute of Medicine, 1999

Patients treated with blood thinners in a pharmacist-managed anticoagulation clinic had fewer emergency room visits, fewer hospitalizations, and showed a total cost savings of $1,621 per patient.
— Archives of Internal Medicine, 1998; 158: 1641-7.

“Pharmacists’ medication recommendations improved clinical outcomes in over 30 percent of cases at a Veterans Administration medical center, saving more than $420,000.”
— American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 2002; 59: 2070-77.

“Outcomes in heart failure can be improved with a clinical pharmacist as a member of the multidisciplinary heart failure team.”
— Archives of Internal Medicine, 1999; 159:1939–45.

“For every dollar invested in pharmacist care, hospitals save nearly $17 in benefits to patients for each $1 invested in clinical pharmacy services.”
— Pharmacotherapy, 2003; 23: 113-125.

Pharmacists providing services for an HMO to patients saved an average of $20 per prescription.
— Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association, 2000; 40(2):157-165.

Pharmacists providing pharmaceutical care to patients in an ambulatory care clinic saved nearly $250,000 in one month.
— Hospital Pharmacy, 1992; 27(3): 203-6, 208-9.

Pharmacists collaborating with physicians to care for high-risk patients reduced the number of prescriptions per patient and saved nearly $600 per year per patient in drug costs.
— Journal of Family Practice, 1995; 41(5): 469-72.

Pharmacist services saved over $75,000 in three months and prevented additional medical problems from occurring by identifying prescribing errors.
— Annals of Pharmacotherapy, 1992; 26(12): 1580-4.

“The direct participation of a pharmacist on a patient care team significantly decreased pharmacy and hospital costs, as well as length of stay, compared with minimal participation of a pharmacist.”
— American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 1997; 54(14): 1591-1595.