Abstract

A prospective study of interventions was carried out at Government Head Quarters Hospital, Ootacamund in order to document the nature and frequency of interventions made by clinical pharmacists at the hospital. Approval of the hospital's ethics committee was obtained. Intervention Data Record included information on patient demographics, admission details, past medical and drug history, present diagnosis and treatment and intervention. Data was collected for a period of seven months between September 1998 and April 1999 from selected wards. Reactive interventions occurred in 8.2% of the 1840 patients admitted, of whom 54.3% were males and 45.7% were females. The mean age of the patients was 44.9 years (±15.3). lnterventions were accepted on 147 of 151 cases. Frequency of interventions in various wards included female medical ward (38%), male medical ward (36.7%), intensive care unit (21%) and intensive cardiac care unit (4%). Clinical conditions in which interventions occurred included congestive cardiac failure (15.9%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (15.9%) and diabetes mellitus (13.2%). Drugs most frequently involved in the interventions were antibiotics (31.8%), insulin (10.6%) digoxin and frusemide (8.6% each). Intervention to discontinue a drug (29.8%) was the most common recommendation made. Majority of recommendations addressed the issue of inappropriate or unnecessary drug or drug regimen (31.1%). Recommendations for appropriate drug therapy were made in 29.8% of interventions. Outcomes could be measured in 37.1% of interventions, of which, 89.2% were beneficial.