Effects of a multicomponent intervention for clinical pharmacists on patient recall of pharmacist visits and satisfaction with care.

Background

Pharmaceutical practice in the hospital setting has undergone major transformations in recent years, increasingly focusing on direct patient care. Limited evidence is available regarding patient-pharmacist interaction even though patients' satisfaction with care has been correlated with clinical outcomes.

Objective

This study evaluated whether a multicomponent intervention for inpatient clinical pharmacists was associated with changes in two co-primary outcomes: patient recall of pharmacist visits and satisfaction with pharmacist-provided care.

Methods

This single-center, prospective, uncontrolled before-after quasi-experimental study was conducted at a tertiary academic center in Canada. Patients with documented clinical pharmacist involvement were enrolled before the intervention (February 6 to April 30, 2023; n=350) and after the intervention (July 1 to September 15, 2023; n=406). The interventions combined four hours of pharmacist training on implicit bias awareness and partnership care with pharmacy-student support for admission medication reconciliation. Patient recall was compared between groups using a chi-square test, and satisfaction scores were compared using an independent-samples t test.

Results

Patient recall of a pharmacist visit was 58.9% (206/350) before the intervention and 64.3% (261/406) after the intervention, although this difference was not statistically significant (absolute difference, 5.4 percentage points; 95% CI, -1.5 to 12.4; P = .126). The surgical-unit subgroup showed an absolute difference of 21.0 percentage points. Among patients who recalled a pharmacist visit, mean satisfaction scores with pharmaceutical care were 76.6/80 and 77.4/80 before and after the intervention, respectively (mean difference, 0.75 points; 95% CI, -0.41 to 1.91).

Conclusion

The multicomponent intervention was not associated with a statistically significant improvement in overall patient recall of a pharmacist visit. The improvement observed in the surgical subgroup should be considered exploratory and warrants confirmation in future studies. Future research should consider the long-term impact of these interventions on pharmacists' practice and patient outcomes.