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Objectives: Patients who are no longer eligible for curative treatment often suffer from multiple complaints and require a multidisciplinary treatment approach. We incorporated two pharmacists in the palliative team, one hospital pharmacist and one pharmacist who were trained as a community pharmacist. The objective of our study was to evaluate their contribution to the palliative team. Methods: During 13 months, the two pharmacists participated in all regular patient reviews and rounds and were available for individual consultation by all members of the palliative team on a daily basis. Each intervention (consults at request or during the patient rounds) was logged and categorised. Key findings: During the study period, 115 patients were under the care of the palliative treatment team. The pharmacists were actively involved in 107 of these (93%). Pharmacists interventions occurred in 76% of patients, with an average of 1.5 interventions per patient. The most common intervention types were giving general therapeutic advice, starting of a drug for an uncontrolled symptom and stopping a drug that was given as prophylaxis. When comparing the contribution of the hospital pharmacist and the outpatient pharmacist, their interventions overlapped with regard to starting drugs, choice of drugs and side‐effect management. However, interventions on parenteral drugs or optimising the route of administration mostly came from the hospital pharmacist, whereas the outpatient pharmacist more often intervened in increasing adherence and stopping drugs. Conclusion: The palliative pharmacist team adds expertise to the palliative treatment team, with an active contribution in 76% of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Pharmacists are accountable for medication-related services provided to patients. As payment models transition from reimbursement for volume to reimbursement for value, pharmacy departments must demonstrate improvements in patient care outcomes and quality measure performance. The transition begins with an awareness of quality measures for which pharmacists and pharmacy personnel can demonstrate accountability across the continuum of care. The objective of the Pharmacy Accountability Measures (PAM) Work Group is to identify measures for which pharmacy departments can and should assume accountability. Summary The National Quality Forum (NQF) Quality Positioning System (QPS) was queried for NQF-endorsed medication-related measures. Included measures were curated into a data set of 6 therapeutic categories: antithrombotic safety, cardiovascular control, glucose control, pain management, behavioral health, and antimicrobial stewardship. Subject matter expert (SME) panels assigned to each area analyzed each measure according to a predetermined ranking system developed by the PAM Work Group. Measures remaining after SME review were disseminated during a public comment period for review and ballot. Over 1,000 measures are captured in the NQF QPS; 656 of the measures were found to be endorsed and medication use related or impacted by medication management services. A single reviewer categorized 140 measures into therapeutic categories for SME review; the remaining measures were unrelated to those clinical domains. The SME groups identified 28 measures for inclusion. Conclusion An understanding of the endorsed quality measures available for public reporting programs provides an opportunity for pharmacists to demonstrate accountability for performance, thus improving quality and safety and demonstrating value of care provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Palliative care uses a team approach, including physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and pharmacists. The pharmacist's role within palliative care teams is increasing and initial favorable outcomes have been reported. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated adult hospitalized patients seen by a part-time palliative care specialist pharmacist as part of the palliative care consultation team at an academic health system during a 15-month period between September 1, 2015, and March 30, 2017. Our study's objective is to identify patterns of an inpatient palliative care pharmacist's interventions and outcomes and evaluate the impact of pharmacist involvement on patient hospital length of stay (LOS), length from admission to palliative care consult (LTC), and time from consult to discharge or death (CTD). Results: The palliative care pharmacist was on service 35% of the time and saw 26.4% of the patient seen by the palliative care team (n = 341 out of 1293). Each patient received an average of 3.5 interventions with an average of 4.1 documented outcomes. The most common interventions were optimizing palliative medication regimen and providing education; most common outcomes were implementation of a change in palliative medication regimen and education of healthcare professionals. Overall, patients seen by the palliative care pharmacist were younger (p < 0.05), more likely to be female (p < 0.05), and more likely to have a primary palliative consultation reason listed as "pain" (p < 0.005). LOS, LTC, and CTD were significantly longer for patients seen by palliative care pharmacist. Conclusion: Pharmacist interventions and outcomes were predominantly related to optimizing symptoms by changes in medication regimen and education of healthcare professionals. A subanalysis of patients with known date of first pharmacist visit found significantly improved LOS, LTC, and CTD for patients with early access to palliative pharmacy (in addition to the other members of the palliative team) compared to those without early access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors comment on the article published within the issue which offers a look at a broad set of quality measures that have been endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF), an organization focused on improving healthcare quality. Topics covered include the need for health-system pharmacists to deepen the value they bring to the healthcare team, and the ways on how pharmacists can make improvements in medication-use quality.