Clinical pharmacists' interventions for preventing adverse events in critically ill neonates in Qatar: an economic impact analysis

Objective: This study aimed to assess the overall economic impact of clinical pharmacist interventions in the neonatal ICU (NICU) in Qatar.

Methods: A retrospective review of neonates' records was performed over a 3-month duration in the NICU of Qatar to determine the total economic benefit of clinical pharmacist interventions. The total benefit of interventions was calculated by considering the cost avoidance due to preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) and the cost savings associated with the revised resource use due to interventions. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to ensure the robustness and generalizability of the results.

Results: A total of 513 interventions were analyzed, involving 150 neonates. Most of the drug-related problems were related to therapy dosing, followed by drug choice appropriateness, the addition of prophylactic treatment, and administration frequency. The overall annual benefit was estimated at QAR 4,178,352 (1,147,584), which consisted of cost avoidance of QAR 1,050,680 (USD 288,648) and an overall cost saving of QAR -6091 (USD -1673).

Conclusions: While the clinical pharmacist interventions led to increased resource utilisation and associated costs, when considering the avoided costs of ADEs, the overall clinical pharmacist practices in the NICU setting were economically beneficial.