Abstract
Objective To describe the development and implementation of pharmaceutical care services in a diabetes ward, and to examine the effectiveness of pharmacist interventions. Setting Tongde hospital of Zhejiang province, a 1,200-bed South China teaching hospital, serving the local community. Method A single-center, 2-phase (pre-/post-intervention phase) designs was performed in the diabetes ward of a general hospital. Patients in post-intervention phase (October 2012 to December 2012) received pharmaceutical care from a clinical pharmacist, while patients in the pre-intervention phase (January 2012 to March 2012) received routine medical care. The pre- and post-intervention phases were then compared to evaluate the outcomes of pharmacist interventions. Main outcome measure type and number of interventions, and medication errors assessed at the baseline and at the end of pharmaceutical care were the main outcome measures. Results During the 3-month study period, the clinical pharmacist made 240 interventions for 473 admitted patients; of these, 207 (86.3 %) were accepted by physicians or nurses, and dosage adjustment [n = 83, (34.6 %)] was the type of intervention implemented most often. In the group that received the participation of pharmacists, medication errors per patient decreased from 1.68 to 0.46 (p < 0.001); medication errors, of incorrect dose or dosing interval, were markedly improved (decreased from 0.87 to 0.14; p < 0.001), the drug cost per patient day decreased from $347.15 to $309.74 (p = 0.095), and the length of diabetes ward stay did not change significantly (16.14 vs. 15.93 days; p = 0.15). Conclusion The presence of the pharmacist in the diabetes ward resulted in significant reduction in medication errors and had potential drug-cost-saving effects.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to acknowledge Dr Yun—long Tian, Dr Hai—bin Dai and Ms Xiu—li Yang for their involvement.
Funding
This study was supported by the Health Bureau of Zhejiang province (2012zyy011).
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It is with regret that the Authors have requested to retract this article. Firstly, Tongde Hospital had not approved the data to be published and secondly, the authors are concerned that their research has not been studied fully enough to warrant publication. All the authors have agreed to this retraction and apologize to the readers of IJCP.
An erratum to this article can be found online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-016-0361-y.
An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11096-016-0361-y.
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Xin, C., Ge, X., Zheng, L. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: Evaluation of pharmaceutical care in a diabetes ward from China: a pre-and post-intervention study. Int J Clin Pharm 38, 34–40 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-013-9855-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-013-9855-z