Implementation and Impact of Critical Care Pharmacist Addition to a Telecritical Care Network

Rachel M Belcher; Anastasia Blair; Stephanie Chauv; Quang Hoang; Abby W Hickman; Melissa Peng; Margaret Baldwin; Logan Koch; Mark Nguyen; David Guidry; Gabriel V Fontaine

doi:10.1097/CCE.0000000000000839

Implementation and Impact of Critical Care Pharmacist Addition to a Telecritical Care Network

Crit Care Explor. 2023 Jan 12;5(1):e0839. doi: 10.1097/CCE.0000000000000839. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Rachel M Belcher¹, Anastasia Blair^{1

2}, Stephanie Chauv¹, Quang Hoang¹, Abby W Hickman¹, Melissa Peng¹, Margaret Baldwin¹, Logan Koch¹, Mark Nguyen¹, David Guidry^{2

3}, Gabriel V Fontaine^{1

2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacy, Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, UT.
² TeleHealth, TeleCritical Care, Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, UT.
³ Department of Critical Care Medicine, Intermountain Healthcare, Murray, UT.
⁴ Roseman University, College of Pharmacy, South Jordan, UT.
⁵ University of Utah, College of Pharmacy, Salt Lake City, UT.

Abstract

Critical care pharmacists when incorporated into the ICU team, have been shown to improve outcomes in critically ill patients by decreasing mortality, improving morbidity and reducing cost. As telehealth continues to evolve, the incorporation of a critical care pharmacist into a comprehensive telecritical care (TCC) service will allow increased comprehensive pharmacotherapeutic care for those in smaller, community or rural hospitals.

Objectives: To describe the implementation of a TCC pharmacist into an established TCC network, classify interventions performed, and quantify cost avoidance generated through pharmacist interventions.

Design: Multicenter, observational cohort study and retrospective return on investment, performed between December 2019 and December 2021.

Setting and participants: Critically ill adult patients, admitted to an ICU located in any of our eight community hospitals (50 ICU beds) within a large, 25-hospital integrated healthcare system (563 ICU beds total) in the United States.

Main outcomes and measures: The TCC pharmacist service was implemented in 8-hour shifts, initially available 5 days per week, then expanded to 7 days per week. Critical care pharmacist interventions were categorized by clinical type established utilizing American Society of Health-System Pharmacists benchmarking standards and the latest cost avoidance data.

Results: During the 2-year analysis period, TCC pharmacists documented 2,838 interventions generating $1,664,254 of gross cost avoidance and a return on investment of 4.5:1.

Conclusions and relevance: It is feasible to implement a TCC pharmacist within an established TCC network. Our experience showed enhanced comprehensive care of critically ill patients located in community hospitals within a large, integrated healthcare system, demonstrated significant cost avoidance, and has led to other initiatives, including a collaborative clinical/operational partnership with Life Flight.

Keywords: cost avoidance; critical care; intensive care unit; pharmacy; telecritical care; telehealth; telepharmacy.