Retrospective study on the effectiveness of clinical pharmacists’ consultation in the management of carbapenem-resistant organisms infections

TL;DR

This study shows that clinical pharmacists' advice improves outcomes for patients with drug-resistant infections.

Contribution

Demonstrates that accepting clinical pharmacists' recommendations is a strong predictor of better treatment outcomes for CRO infections.

Findings

Patients who accepted pharmacist recommendations had an 80.08% effective response rate versus 20.69% in non-acceptance cases.

Mortality was significantly lower (9.76%) in patients who accepted pharmacist advice compared to 44.80% in those who did not.

Multivariate analysis confirmed pharmacist recommendation acceptance as an independent predictor of treatment success.

Abstract

The emergence and global dissemination of carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) pose a significant public health threat. Clinical pharmacists play a pivotal role in optimizing antimicrobial therapy through their expertise in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and antimicrobial stewardship.

This study aimed to assess the impact of clinical pharmacists’ consultations on treatment outcomes in patients with CRO infections.

A retrospective observational study was conducted using data from patients hospitalized at the First Hospital of Jilin University. Patients who received pharmacist consultations were compared with those who did not. The primary outcomes included clinical improvement and mortality rates.

A total of 285 patients were included. The acceptance rate (AR) of consultation suggestions by clinicians was 89.82%, and the effective response rate (ERR) was 74.03%. Significant differences were observed between the acceptance and non-acceptance groups regarding effective response and mortality. Patients in the non-acceptance group had a lower effective response rate (20.69% vs. 80.08%) and a higher mortality rate (44.80% vs. 9.76%). Multivariate analysis confirmed that acceptance of pharmacists’ recommendations was an independent predictor of effective response (OR = 23.72, 95% CI [7.823–71.917], P < 0.001).

Clinical pharmacists’ consultations significantly improve treatment outcomes in patients with CRO infections. The acceptance of pharmacists’ recommendations is associated with higher effective response rates and lower mortality, underscoring the importance of integrating clinical pharmacists into multidisciplinary teams managing CRO infections.

Figures