piloting the role of a pharmacist in a community palliative care multidisciplinary team an australian experience驾驶药剂师的角色在一个社区姑息治疗多学科小组一个澳大利亚的经验.pdfVIP

Hussainy et al. BMC Palliative Care 2011, 10:16 /1472-684X/10/16 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Piloting the role of a pharmacist in a community palliative care multidisciplinary team: an Australian experience Safeera Y Hussainy1*, Margaret Box2† and Sandy Scholes2,3† Abstract Background: While the home is the most common setting for the provision of palliative care in Australia, a common problem encountered here is the inability of patient/carers to manage medications, which can lead to misadventure and hospitalisation. This can be averted through detection and resolution of drug related problems (DRPs) by a pharmacist; however, they are rarely included as members of the palliative care team. The aim of this study was to pilot a model of care that supports the role of a pharmacist in a community palliative care team. A component of the study was to develop a cost-effective model for continuing the inclusion of a pharmacist within a community palliative care service. Methods: The study was undertaken (February March 2009-June 2010) in three phases. Development (Phase 1) involved a literature review; scoping the pharmacist’s role; creating tools for recording DRPs and interventions, a communication and education strategy, a care pathway and evidence based patient information. These were then implemented in Phase 2. Evaluation (Phase 3) of the impact of the pharmacist’s role from the perspectives of team members was undertaken using an online survey and focus group. Impact on clinical outcomes was determined by the number of patients screened to assess their risk of medication misadventure, as well as the number of medication reviews and interventions performed to resolve DRPs. Results: The pharmacist screened most patients (88.4%, 373/422) referred to the palliative care service to assess their risk of medicat