Analysis of cost avoidance from pharmacy students' clinical interventions at a psychiatric hospital.

Objective: To analyze the cost avoidance resulting from clinical interventions made by pharmacy students completing an advanced pharmacy practice experience (APPE) at a psychiatric hospital.

Methods: A retrospective database review of documented clinical interventions by pharmacy students was conducted to classify interventions by type and significance. Interventions were assigned a cost avoidance value determined by an evaluation of the literature.

Results: Three hundred-twenty interventions were documented by 15 pharmacy students during the 1-year study period. The majority of interventions were related to psychiatric medication classes and most (n = 197; 61.6%) were classified as being of moderate significance. The most common interventions included patient education (13.1%), order clarification (11.6%), therapeutic dosing adjustments (10.9%), and laboratory order monitoring (8.8%). The estimated cost avoidance from all interventions made by pharmacy students was approximately $23,000.

Conclusions: Pharmacy students completing APPEs at a psychiatric hospital contributed to a variety of significant clinical interventions and provided considerable cost avoidance value to the institution.