Patient and hospital staff perspectives on introducing pharmacist-led medication reviews at an orthopedic ward: a mixed methods pilot study.

Abstract

Background: Multi-morbidity is associated with multiple medication use, which potentially increases the risk of adverse drug events. Pharmacist-led medication reviews have been introduced to meet these challenges.

Aim: To evaluate the implementation of pharmacist-led medication reviews for older patients admitted to an orthopedic ward in terms of quality and safety from the perspectives of patients, hospital-based physicians, nurses, and healthcare assistants.

Method: Patients (n=11) were interviewed, with the interviews having a reflexive thematic analysis using the hermeneutic approach, while healthcare-professionals' (HCPs) (n=26) perspectives on pharmacist-led medication reviews were assessed using questionnaires.

Results: The qualitative patient interviews revealed four themes: (1) Positive perception of pharmacists' medication communication, (2) Mixed perceptions of a medication review, (3) Satisfaction with the general outcome of the medication review, and (4) Safety perception with medication treatment. Twenty-six HCPs completed the questionnaire (response rate 48%) with a distribution of 10 hospital-based physicians (38%), eight nurses (31%), and eight healthcare assistants (31%). Almost 85% of the HCPs (n = 22) were familiar with the pharmacist conducting medication reviews. More than 70% of the HCPs reported that pharmacist-led medication reviews contributed to increased quality of admitted patients' medication use.

Conclusion: High levels of satisfaction with the outcomes of the medication reviews-particularly regarding quality, patient safety, and their overall positive impact on the ward-indicate that both patients and HCPs perceived the service as highly valuable in supporting patient care throughout the medication process.