EXaminaTion of cRitical cAre PHArmacist pRoductivity MetricS (EXTRA-PHARMS): The clinical pharmacist's perspective

Abstract

Background

Critical care pharmacists are well-established, valuable members of the intensive care unit interprofessional team with unique skills to perform comprehensive medication management in complex critically ill patients. However, standardized and consequential productivity metrics for critical care pharmacists have not been established.

Objective

To characterize the utilization and perception of contemporary critical care pharmacy productivity metrics utilized among individual institutions.

Design, Setting, and Participants

An electronic survey was distributed to critical care pharmacist members of the Society of Critical Care Medicine Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology Section and the American College of Clinical Pharmacy Critical Care Practice and Research Network.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The survey included 23 questions to assess institution demographics, individual respondent demographics, institution practices, and individual respondent perceptions about the value of critical care pharmacist productivity metrics.

Results

A total of 204 critical care pharmacists, largely from the United States, responded to the survey between July and November 2022. Institutional metrics captured by more than 50% of the respondents' institutions included order verification rate/number of orders verified (60%), number of clinical interventions (57%), and intravenous to enteral product interchanges (52%). Of these metrics, critical care pharmacists only agreed with the value of the number of clinical interventions, were indifferent to the value of intravenous to oral product interchanges, and disagreed with the value of order verification rate/number of orders verified.

Conclusions

Significant discrepancies exist between institutional productivity metric practices and their perceived value and utility among critical care pharmacists.