Pharmacist Avoidance or Reductions in Medical Costs in Critically and Emergently Ill Pediatrics: PHARM-PEDS Study

Critical Care Explorations · 4 authors, 5 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

POPULATIONCritically and emergently ill pediatric patients in U.S. pediatric ICU and ED settings

INTERVENTIONClinical pharmacist involvement in multidisciplinary pediatric critical care with classified intervention recommendations

COMPARISON

This summary was generated by AI from a single paper. It has not been reviewed by a clinician and is not clinical advice. Verify against the source before acting on it.

AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

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TL;DR

A multicenter prospective observational study of 19 pediatric pharmacists across five U.S. hospitals documented 1,458 accepted interventions on 861 critically ill pediatric patients, generating an estimated $450,590 in cost avoidance. The potential annualized cost avoidance per pharmacist was $965,550, yielding a cost-avoidance-to-salary ratio between 1.5:1 and 5.2:1.

Full summary

1,054 CHARS

Nineteen pediatric clinical pharmacists at five academic and community U.S. hospitals completed 112 shifts during August 2018 through January 2019, documenting interventions on 861 critically ill pediatric patients. A total of 1,458 interventions were accepted (97.8% acceptance rate) across six categories, with individualization of patient care accounting for 61.6% of interventions. The associated total cost avoidance was $450,590, averaging $309 per intervention, $523 per patient, and $4,023 per pharmacist shift. The annualized potential cost avoidance per pharmacist was $965,550, yielding a cost-to-salary ratio of 5.2:1; when restricted to five most validated intervention categories, the ratio was 1.5:1. Limitations include the use of a published framework for cost avoidance estimation rather than measured cost savings, and conservative classification of adverse drug events, which may have resulted in underappreciation of actual cost avoidance. The need for research on the impact of pharmacist interventions on clinical outcomes remains.

PICO

PPOPULATION

Critically and emergently ill pediatric patients in U.S. pediatric ICU and ED settings

IINTERVENTION

Clinical pharmacist involvement in multidisciplinary pediatric critical care with classified intervention recommendations

OOUTCOME

Cost avoidance associated with accepted pharmacist interventions

STUDY TYPE

cohort

SPECIALTY

pediatrics

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10558220

Pharmacist Avoidance or Reductions in Medical Costs in Critically and Emergently Ill Pediatrics: PHARM-PEDS Study

Critical Care Explorations

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To comprehensively classify interventions performed by pediatric critical care clinical pharmacists and quantify cost avoidance (CA) generated through their accepted interventions. DESIGN: A multicenter, prospective, observational study performed between August 2018 and January 2019. SETTING: Academic and community hospitals in the United States with pediatric critical care units. SUBJECTS: Pediatric clinical pharmacists. INTERVENTIONS: Pharmacist recommendations were classified into one of 38 total intervention categories associated with CA. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Nineteen pediatric pharmacists at five centers documented 1,458 accepted interventions during 112 shifts on 861 critically ill pediatric patients. This calculated to an associated CA of $450,590. The accepted interventions and associated CA in the six established categories included as follows: adverse drug event prevention (155 interventions, $118,901 CA), resource utilization (267 interventions; $59,020), individualization of patient care (898 interventions, $217,949 CA), prophylaxis (8 interventions, $453 CA), hands-on care (30 interventions, $35,509 CA), and administrative/supportive tasks (108 interventions, $18,758 CA). The average associated CA was $309 per accepted intervention, $523 per patient day, and $4,023.13 per pediatric clinical pharmacist shift. The calculated potential annualized CA of accepted interventions from a pediatric pharmacist was $965,550, resulting in a potential monetary-associated CA-to-pharmacist salary ratio between $1.5:1 and $5.2:1. CONCLUSIONS: There is potential for significant avoidance of healthcare costs when pediatric pharmacists are involved in the care of critically and emergently ill pediatric patients, with a monetary potential CA-to-pediatric pharmacist salary ratio to be between $1.5:1 and $5.2:1.

CITATION EXPORT

Amy L. Kiskaddon, Michelle M. Smith, Frankie Gilliland et al.. Pharmacist Avoidance or Reductions in Medical Costs in Critically and Emergently Ill Pediatrics: PHARM-PEDS Study. Critical Care Explorations. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1097/CCE.0000000000000980

AUTHORS

4 · 5 CENTRES

Amy L. Kiskaddon, Michelle M. Smith, Frankie Gilliland, Megan A. Rech

1 Department of Pharmacy, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL.
2 Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
3 Division of Critical Care Medicine, Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, St. Petersburg, FL.
4 Department of Veterans Affairs, Center of Innovation for Complex Chronic Healthcare, Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL.
5 Department of Emergency Medicine, Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL.