Pharmacist Participation on Physician Rounds and Adverse Drug Events in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

In traditional hospital practice most of the burden of drug therapy decision making falls on the physician. However, studies have shown that physicians sometimes make errors in prescribing drugs.^1,2 While most errors are harmless or are intercepted, some result in adverse drug events (ADEs). The pharmacist's role in prescribing is typically reactive: responding to prescription errors long after the decision has been made for patients about whom he or she has little direct clinical knowledge. Thus, the specialized knowledge of the pharmacist is not utilized when it would be most useful: at the time of ordering.