Increasing Outpatient Pharmacy Asthma Services in a Pediatric Institution

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of pharmacist efforts to increase outpatient pharmacy asthma services in a pediatric institution. Methods: In July 2010, outpatient pharmacists began encouraging hospital and emergency department (ED) patients with a principal ICD-9 diagnosis of asthma or wheezing to obtain discharge medications at the institution\u27s outpatient pharmacy. This effort to increase medication adherence is one component of an institutionwide initiative to decrease asthma admissions. Interventions aimed at families include promotional flyers, appointment cards, and daily visits to hospitalized patients to inform them of services offered by the outpatient pharmacy. Interventions aimed at hospital personnel include meeting with ED and inpatient clinical leaders and distributing weekly updates on the program\u27s progress. The monthly percent of asthma medications prescribed to ED and inpatient discharges dispensed from the outpatient pharmacy will be compared with the corresponding month of the previous year. Specific interventions will be recorded on a timeline and their impact on the program will be evaluated and discussed. Patient identifiers will not be collected. Results: NA (research in progress)