A STUDY OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST INITIATED INTERVENTION FOR THE OPTIMAL USE OF MEDICATIONS IN A NEONATAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT (NICU) OF A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, SOUTH INDIA

Objective: Various strategies to reduce errors have been described in adult and pediatric patients, but there are few published data on their effect in the NICU. The study was carried out to assess the impact of a clinical pharmacist-initiated intervention for the optimal use of medications in NICU.Methods: A prospective, non-experimental, Interventional study was conducted, with a sample size of 150 patients, admitted to the NICU during a period of 7 mo.Results: A total of 87 Drug-related problems (DRPs) were identified from 80 patient case records. Most of the pharmacist-initiated interventions carried out in this study resulted from Dose/frequency inappropriate (40.22%) followed by Administration errors (31.05%) and Drug Interactions (17.24%). The acceptance rate of recommendation and change in drug therapy was found to be high 68.97%. Most of the pharmacist interventions were seen to have moderate significance in grade.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the physician's acceptance rate of pharmacist intervention is high. The physician acceptance rate of documented clinical pharmacist interventions indicated that specialist medical colleagues considered most of the interventions appropriate. This suggests that a joint effort between physicians and pharmacist is possible that provides a safer system, improved pharmaceutical care and better resource utilization.Â