JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Pharmacist participation on physician rounds and adverse drug events in the intensive care unit.
Pharmacist review of medication orders in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been shown to prevent errors, and pharmacist consultation has reduced drug costs. However, whether pharmacist participation in the ICU at the time of drug prescribing reduces adverse events has not been studied. ⋯ The presence of a pharmacist on rounds as a full member of the patient care team in a medical ICU was associated with a substantially lower rate of ADEs caused by prescribing errors. Nearly all the changes were readily accepted by physicians.