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BACKGROUND: The positive impact of clinical pharmacy services (CPS) in improving clinical outcomes such as reduction of drug related problems is well demonstrated. Despite these results, the deployment of these activities is not systematically observed in the hospital setting. OBJECTIVES: This systematic review first aimed to describe existing evidence regarding economic evaluation of ward-based CPS focusing on the entire treatment of a patient in a hospital setting. Secondly, the quality of economic evaluations of existing evidence was assessed. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed in PubMed/Medline, Science Direct and the NHS Economic Evaluation databases from January 2000 to March 2019. English or French language articles describing an economic evaluation of ward-based CPS on inpatients in hospital settings were included. Articles not describing a single study, dealing with a CPS not considering the entire medication regimen of the patient or presenting both inpatient and outpatient CPS were excluded. Selected articles were analyzed according to Drummond's check-list for assessing economic evaluations. RESULTS: Forty-one studies were included. About one third were American publications. CPS implemented in ICU represented about half of the selected articles. Pharmacist-to-bed ratios varied according to countries and care unit type with the most favorable ratios in ICU and in American studies. Cost-avoidance was mostly used to express economic impact and ranged from €1579 to €3,089 328. Studies yielding the greater economic impact were conducted in the USA with implementation of full-time equivalents pharmacists or establishing of collaborative practice agreements. Only 6 articles dealt correctly with at least 7 of the 10 Drummond's checklist assessment criteria. CONCLUSION: This review suggests that the existing evidence is not sufficient to conclude to a positive economic impact of CPS conducted according to clinical pharmacy guidelines. Funding resources, remuneration of clinical pharmacy activities and provision of standardized national clinical and economic databases appear to be essential evolutions to improve CPS development.

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WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVES: The agreement between prescribed sedation objectives and sedation pump syringe rate adaptation is not optimal. Delays in adjustment of sedation doses are associated with an increased patient length of stay in the intensive care unit. Our objectives were to assess compliance with the approved sedation protocol and to evaluate the impact of a clinical pharmacist daily controlling sedation and analgesia scores and pump syringe rates on patients' outcomes in a critical care unit. METHODS: Prospective before/after study involving 60 adult patients divided into two groups (non-intervention and intervention groups) who received mechanical ventilation and continuous infusions of sedative and analgesic drugs in an intensive care unit. In both groups, data were collected daily in 30 mechanically ventilated patients receiving a sedation/analgesia regimen during a 3-month period according to a standardized protocol. A pharmacist was in charge of intervening with physicians when the local sedation analgesia protocol was not followed. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of demographic characteristics except a higher proportion of men in the intervention group (70% vs 40%, P = .019). In the control group, sedation and analgesia objectives were not prescribed in more than half the cases. Pharmacist intervention reduced sedation duration (5 [2-11] vs 2 [1-5.5] days, P = .019). The cumulative delay in adaptation of the sedation analgesia electric syringe pump was significantly decreased in the intervention group (8 [0-29.5] vs 28.5 hours [11.1-68.4], P = .034). Total doses of sedatives (midazolam, propofol) and analgesics (sufentanil, remifentanil) per patient were decreased in the intervention group compared to the control group (respectively, P = .24, P = .0009, P = .0013 and P = .0007). CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacist intervention can decrease the sedation duration and the total dose of sedation medications and reinforce adherence to sedation/analgesia guidelines.

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PURPOSE: Physicochemical incompatibility (PCI) between drugs infused together is frequent, but under-recognized. PCI can lead to drug inactivity, catheter occlusion, embolism or inflammatory reactions. The aims of this work were to identify most frequent and relevant drug incompatibilities and to review and develop strategies for their prevention. METHOD: This was an observational prospective survey conducted between January and March 2015 in an intensive care unit (ICU) and in September 2014 in a hematology sterile unit (HSU). Drugs administered to patients were recorded and their compatibility assessed based on published compatibility data. RESULTS: Drug incompatibilities accounted for 12% (23/189) and 17% (116/686) of drug pairs infused in the ICU and the HSU, respectively. Pantoprazole was the most frequent drug implied in PCI. Regarding drug classes, anti-infective agents and gastrointestinal drugs were the most frequently implied. Among the incompatible pairs, 78% and 61% implicated a drug with extreme pH in the ICU and HSU, respectively. The tools proposed to reduce the frequency of PCI included: compatibility cross-tables, labeling of drugs with extreme pH and optimized administration schedules. CONCLUSIONS: Given the frequency and the potential for severe consequences of PCI, pharmacists have a role to play in raising awareness of nurses and practitioners, and proposing adequate tools and solutions to reduce their incidence.

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OBJECTIVES: Little information exists on the frequency and determinants of drug-associated long QT syndrome in older adults. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence and identify risk factors of drug-associated long QT syndrome in a population of elderly hospitalized patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study performed over 6 months in hospital geriatric medicine. Various QT-correction equations were fitted to the individual QT-RR data to evaluate the most appropriate equation. Long QT syndrome was defined as corrected QT ≥450 ms. Available data were compared in patients with and without long QT syndrome. Logistic regression and classification and regression tree analysis were performed to identify determinants of long QT syndrome. RESULTS: Thirty-three of 152 patients (22%) exhibited corrected QT ≥450 ms. The different QT correction equations provided similar results, except the Bazett equation. In patients with long QT syndrome, there was a higher proportion of male subjects (58 vs. 33%, p = 0.009) and a higher number of QT-prolonging drugs than in patients without long QT syndrome. Male sex (odds ratio, 3.25) and the number of prescribed QT-prolonging agents (odds ratio, 1.77) were significantly associated with the probability of long QT syndrome. The number of QT-prolonging drugs had a stronger influence on the risk of long QT syndrome in men than in women. CONCLUSION: Male sex was found to be a significant risk factor of corrected QT prolongation in elderly hospitalized patients. The risk also increased with the number of QT-prolonging agents, especially in men. Those findings may help to mitigate the risk of long QT syndrome in elderly patients in clinical practice.

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OBJECTIVES: By the Order of 6 April 2011, the pharmacist must validate all the prescriptions containing "high-risk drugs" or those of "patients at risk". To optimize this clinical pharmacy activity, we identified high-risk drugs. METHOD: A list of high-risk drugs has been established using literature, pharmacists' interventions (PI) performed in our hospital and a survey sent to hospital pharmacists. In a prospective study (analysis of 100 prescriptions for each high-risk drug selected), we have identified the most relevant to target. RESULTS: We obtained a statistically significant PI rate (P<0.05) for digoxin, oral anticoagulants direct, oral methotrexate and colchicine. CONCLUSION: This method of targeted pharmaceutical validation based on high-risk drugs is relevant to detect patients with high risk of medicine-related illness.

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