Definition Of Ward Round Participation
Ward round participation is defined as the system where a pharmacist visits wards regularly to monitor the accuracy of prescriptions given by practitioners, their handling by nursing staff, and also to ensure that the drug distribution is operated correctly.
Participation inwards is an important activity for clinical pharmacists in terms of their contribution to patient care.
It enables pharmacists to offer advice at the time of prescribing regarding rational drug use, adverse drug reactions, and drug interactions and is even helpful in the reduction of additional investigations and treatment.
Goals And Objectives:
- To gain an improved understanding of the patient’s clinical status and progress, current planned investigations, and therapeutic goals.
- Provide relevant information on the drug therapy aspects like pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, drug availability, cost, drug interactions, adverse reactions, etc.
- Optimize therapeutic management by influencing drug therapy interactions.
- Detect adverse drug reactions and drug interactions.
- Participate in patient discharge planning.
- Enhanced quality and safety of patient care.
Classification And Steps Involved:
Ward rounds are classified according to the purpose of the round and the composition of the participating healthcare team in teaching rounds and resident rounds.
The different types are:
- Pre-ward rounds
- Ward round participation
- Interventions during ward rounds.
- Ward round follow-up.
The different steps involved are:
Pre-ward Round Participation:
- Pharmacists need to know accurate and up-to-date information on patient’s health status, disease management, and medical, education history which is essential for active participation in clinical decision-making.
- It may also be useful to make a note of the interventions or recommendations to be made during the ward rounds.
- This allows pharmacists to be well-informed and organized before discussing patient management and contributing to the decision-making process.
Ward Round Participation:
- In hospitals with a formulary, the pharmacists should ensure that all the prescriptions are in accordance with the hospital formulary.
- When identifying potential problems such as drug interactions, adverse reactions, and medication errors pharmacists should be prepared to suggest alternatives to resolve them.
- They should limit themselves from getting involved in discussions concerning diagnosis.
Interventions During Ward Rounds:
- Pharmacy intervention is defined as actions by the pharmacist that directly result in a change in patient management therapy.
- They arise with clinical pharmacy activities of medication history review, therapeutic drug monitoring, medication chart review, etc.
The main drug-related quires that may arise are:
- Dose and frequency
- Choice of medication
- Adverse effects
- Drug interactions
- Duration of the therapy etc
The interventions are to be prioritized according to the clinical significance.
Ward Round Follow –Up:
Clinical pharmacists who encounter issues during ward rounds should require follow-up based on their relevance.
The basic things required are:
- Responding to enquiries
- Communicating information between staff
- Completing documentation – ADRs etc
- Attiring patient’s care plan.
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