Clinical pharmacist interventions during clinical rounding in a psychiatric hospital: Positive evidence for pharmacists in interdisciplinary rounding at psychiatric hospital

Clinical pharmacists have not yet become an integral part of interdisciplinary ward rounds in most psychiatric hospitals across the European Union. This retrospective study examined the impact of the recommendations from a clinical pharmacist during hospital rounds as part of an interdisciplinary medical team in a psychiatric hospital. This retrospective observational pre-post study included all patients in a Slovenian psychiatric hospital who were hospitalized in 2019–2020. The clinical pharmacist made 315 recommendations for a total of 244 participants (average age M  = 59.4, median = 56). Psychiatrists accepted 295 (93.7%) of the recommendations. After the recommendations, the number of expressed DRPs decreased in 166 interventions (93.8%) and the number of potential DRPs in 129 interventions (93.8%). Three months after discharge, 222 accepted recommendations were continued (70.5%). The most common recommendations were related to antipsychotics (19.4%, N = 61) followed by antidepressants (16.8%, N = 53). Including a clinical pharmacist in the interdisciplinary ward rounds in a psychiatric hospital reduced the number of expressed and potential DRPs with a very high recommendation acceptance rate. These results are the first in the European Union to show the benefits of including a clinical pharmacist in ward rounding.