SHBC1132

S.M.NG¹, M.M.LIM¹, X.H.ZHAO¹

National Skin Centre¹

Studies evaluating the types and effectiveness of pharmaceutical interventions conducted in the dermatologic practice are scarce. This study analyses the characteristics and the potential economic impact from the pharmaceutical interventions conducted in a dermatologic outpatient centre.

Interventions documented by the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians from 01 May 2019 to 31 August 2020 were analysed retrospectively. These were classified according to the National Core Metrics workgroup Drug Related Problems (DRP) categories. Interventions accepted by the physicians were scored based on the probability an adverse drug event occurring in the absence of pharmaceutical interventions. These scores were used to calculate cost avoidance. Cost savings was computed from the medications adjusted from the interventions.

A total of 656 interventions were conducted for 615 patients [mean age 45.8 (SD = 23.7) years, 54.0% male]. The five most frequent interventions detected were related to dosing regimen (n = 301, 45.9%), drug selection (n = 204, 31.1%), indication (n = 79, 12.0%), drug interactions (n = 48, 7.3%) and adverse drug reactions (n = 19, 2.9%). Potential cost avoidance and cost savings generated were SGD 56,750. The input costs of conducting interventions was computed to be SGD 9,881. This resulted in a potential net cost benefit of SGD 46,896 and thus, a cost benefit ratio of 5.7.

This study reveals the types of DRPs encountered in a dermatologic outpatient centre. The potential cost benefit as a result of pharmaceutical interventions suggests future studies to measure the direct cost impact of pharmaceutical interventions.