ESCP symposium on clinical pharmacy. From interprofessional education to interprofessional practice

Background: Clinical pharmacists in emergency departments (EDs) contribute to improving patient care, enhancing medication safety, and optimizing outcomes by identifying medication errors, preventing medication-related problems and reducing inappropriate medication use.However, in Norway, pharmacists are not routinely integrated into the interprofessional ED team.Aim: The primary aim of the PharmED-study (1) was to investigate the impact of ED pharmacists on length of stay in hospital (LOS) during a 30-day follow-up from ED admission.Secondary outcomes included LOS during index visit and any revisit(s), time to readmission, and mortality.Method: This stepped-wedge, non-randomized cluster trial included all patients admitted to three EDs (100-250-beds) in Northern Norway between February 2021 and January 2022.Clinical pharmacists provided medication reconciliation, medication review, and medication counselling during weekday shifts (8:00 AM-7:00 PM).Median linear regression, adjusted for study site, was used to analyse LOS.Time to hospital revisit was analysed applying Cox regression model, also adjusted for study site.Results: A total of 39,413 patients with 48,345 ED visits were included, with 24,756 patients in the intervention group and 17,782 in OC1.