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National Pharmacist Day 2025

Created By: AHRQ
Date Created: January 7, 2025
Last Updated: January 13, 2025

Description
In recognition of National Pharmacist Day 2025, PSNet has created this Curated Library to provide healthcare professionals with important resources that highlight the role of pharmacists in patient safety.
Library Organization
Content Type - This library is organized by the PSNet default organization style.
Primers (1)

This perspective describes key themes reflected in AHRQ PSNet resources released in 2019 related to the role of the pharmacist in enhancing patient safety.

All Library Content (9)
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Adverse events resulting from medications are a common occurrence that often go undetected, unreported, and unaddressed.1 The impact of outpatient adverse drug events (ADEs) on patients and health systems is substantial. ADEs result in more than 3.5 million physician office visits and 1 million U.S.

Post-discharge adverse drug events (ADEs) are one of the most common preventable harms leading to hospital readmission in the United States.1,2 To improve medication-related safety and reduce hospital readmissions, the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) started a transitional care clinic (TCC) led by clinical pharmacy specialists (CPSs) who provide follow-up care to patients after they are discharged from the hospital or emergency department (ED). CPSs are independent mi

This piece discusses the critical role community pharmacists play in ensuring medication safety.

Gina Luchen

Georgia Galanou Luchen, Pharm. D., is the Director of Member Relations at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP). In this role, she leads initiatives related to community pharmacy practitioners and their impact throughout the care continuum. We spoke with her about different types of community pharmacists and the role they play in ensuring patient safety. 

Ravn-Nielsen LV, Duckert M-L, Lund ML, et al. JAMA Intern Med. 2018;178(3):375-382.
Preventable harm is common during and after hospital discharge. Pharmacist-delivered medication reconciliation has been proposed as a strategy to reduce adverse medication events and readmissions. Investigators conducted a three-arm randomized controlled trial comparing the effect of pharmacist-delivered medication reviews, motivational interviews, and postdischarge follow-up with nursing homes, primary care providers, and pharmacies (extended intervention); simple inpatient medication reconciliation (basic intervention); and usual care (no intervention) on outcomes for medically complex patients. The extended intervention reduced hospital readmissions and emergency department visits within 180 days of discharge while the basic intervention did not. This trial was large, robustly conducted, and demonstrated a durable improvement in safety for patients at increased readmission risk. A previous Annual Perspective explored tools for safer transitions of care.
Martin P, Tamblyn R, Benedetti A, et al. JAMA. 2018;320(18):1889-1898.
This randomized controlled trial tested a pharmacist-led educational intervention at community pharmacies. Intervention patients received a brochure about potentially inappropriate medications. Discontinuation of potentially harmful medications increased among older adults compared to usual pharmacy care, suggesting that community pharmacies can play a significant role in medication safety.
Avery A, Rodgers S, Cantrill JA, et al. Lancet. 2012;379(9823):1310-9.
Pharmacists continue to play a critical role in reducing medication errors. Past studies have focused on their impact in emergency departments and hospital settings, as well as their impact on the discharge process and specialized services. This study implemented a pharmacist-led information technology intervention (PINCER) composed of feedback and educational outreach to a randomized subset of 72 primary care practices in the United Kingdom. At 6 months following the intervention, patients in the PINCER group experienced substantially reduced frequency of clinically important prescription (e.g., beta blocker in a patient with asthma) and medication monitoring errors (e.g., ACE inhibitor in an elderly patient without assessing electrolytes). The authors suggest that their intervention can be of increasing value to other health systems that are moving towards computerized electronic health records. A past AHRQ WebM&M perspective discussed preparing pharmacists for the future in patient safety.