Changing transplant recipient education and inpatient transplant pharmacy practices: a single-center perspective.

Purpose: Pharmacists' contributions to improved inpatient medication practices and educational services for kidney transplant recipients at a community hospital were evaluated.

Summary: A retrospective observational analysis was conducted using demographic and case data collected during the year before (2007) and three years after (2011) the inclusion of pharmacists on the hospital's interdisciplinary kidney transplant team. Qualitative variables assessed included changes in prescribing practices, inpatient and outpatient transplant personnel, discharge planning processes, medication reconciliation, educational practices, and transplant program workflow; quantitative variables included average hospital length of stay (LOS), Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients data, readmission rates, and reimbursement data.