[Ward-based clinical pharmacists in intensive care medicine: an economic evaluation].

Abstract

Background: The positive impact of pharmaceutical care in improving medication safety is considered proven. Little is known about the economic benefit of clinical pharmaceutical services in Germany.

Objective: In 2020, a pilot project was started at the Ernst von Bergmann Hospital to introduce ward-based clinical pharmacists in intensive care medicine, also in order to determine the economic benefit of the medication management offered.

Methods: By a team of experienced intensive care physicians and clinical pharmacists on the basis of a consensus principle, each pharmaceutical intervention (PI) was assigned a probability score (Nesbit probability score) with which an adverse drug event (ADE) would have occurred. Assuming that each ADE results in an increased length of stay, the costs of intensive care treatment/day were used as potential savings. The model thereby combines the findings of two international publications to enable an economic analysis of pharmaceutical services.

Results: During the study period, 177 pharmaceutical interventions were evaluated and corresponding probability scores for the occurrence of ADE were determined. From this, annual savings of € 80,000 through avoided costs were calculated.

Conclusion: In this project, the economic benefit of pharmaceutical services in intensive care medicine was proven. Ward-based clinical pharmacists are now an integral part of the intensive care treatment team at the Ernst von Bergmann Hospital.