Impact of Pharmacist-Led Implementation of a Community Hospital-Based Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy on Clinical Outcomes in Thailand

Few studies have analyzed community hospital-based parenteral anti-infective therapy (CohPAT). We aimed to assess the clinical impact of a pharmacist-led implementation of a clinical practice guideline (CPG) for CohPAT, and to determine the pharmacist’s role in CohPAT medication management. The prospective-period patients (post-implementation group) were compared with the historical control-period patients (pre-implementation group) for receiving a continuous antimicrobial parenteral injection. A CPG was used for laboratory testing for efficacy and safety, the monitoring of adverse drug events during admission, microbiology results coordination, and dosage adjustment. For any antimicrobial drug-related problems, the pharmacist consulted with the clinicians. Over 14 months, 50 participants were included in each group. In the pre-implementation period, 7 (14%) and 4 (8%) out of 50 patients received an inappropriate dosage and nonlaboratory monitoring for dose adjustment, respectively. The patients received the proper dosage of antimicrobial agents, which increased significantly from 78% pre- to 100% post-implementation (p = 0.000). The pharmacist’s interventions during the prospective-period were completely accepted by the clinicians, and significantly greater laboratory monitoring complying with CPG was given to the postimplementation group than the pre-implementation group (100% vs. 60%; p = 0.000). Significantly less patients with unfavorable outcomes (failure or in-hospital mortality) were observed in the post-implementation than in the pre-implementation (6% vs. 26%; p = 0.006) group. For the logistic regression analysis, lower respiratory infection (adjusted OR, aOR 3.68; 95%CI 1.13–12.06) and the post-implementation period (aOR 0.21; 95%CI 0.06–0.83) were significant risk factors that were associated with unfavorable outcomes. Given the better clinical outcomes and the improved quality of septic patient care observed after implementation, pharmacist-led implementation should be adopted in healthcare settings.