The ASHP Research and Education Foundation www.asjpfoundation.org awarded funding to new investigators to study advances in pharmacy practices through the 2017-2018 “New Investigator Research Grant Program www.ashpfoundation.or/NewInvestigatorGrantees.
This ASHP grant program enables new investigators to develop and evaluate innovative practice models that could enable pharmacists to make additional contributions to patient care. Two grantees were awarded up to $20,000.
One of the grants will study “The Impact of the Implementation of a Pharmacist-Driven Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Management Program”, at the University of Toledo with Sara Petite, Pharm.D, and Julie Murphy Pharm.D as principal investigators.
Dr. Petite reports that many patients are being readmitted with a repeat worsening of COPD shortly after being discharged from the hospital. She plans on evaluating patients admitted to a non-intensive care unit setting with a worsening of the illness.
According to Dr. Petite, “The benefit of a pharmacist intervention on clinical outcomes for patients with a COPD exacerbation has not been well studied. The study plan is to determine the change in hospital length of stay, track the time to the next COPD hospitalization, and perform medication management for COPD before and after implementing a pharmacist-driven COPD exacerbation management program.
Dr. Petite hopes that this study will help establish the role of a pharmacist in both the inpatient and outpatient settings and illustrate the need for pharmacist involvement during the critical transition of care from hospital discharge to home when working with COPD patients.