Pharmacoeconomic and clinical impact of pharmaceutical service in the intensive care unit: a systematic review

Clinical pharmacy is a fast-growing discipline in Europe, ensuring optimisation and a guarantee of safety in therapeutic management. Within a hospital the intensive care unit (ICU) typically admits the most severely ill patients who require expensive medications. These patients may be at risk for potentially serious adverse events, especially when medication errors occur. This study aims to evaluate the pharmacoeconomic and clinical impact of pharmaceutical care and service within ICUs. A systematic review of the literature following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 methodology was conducted to identify pharmacoeconomic studies published from 2017 to 2021 in Pubmed, Web of Science, and Science Direct. A qualitative methodological assessment of the studies was made using the Consolidated Health Economic Evaluation Reporting Standards (CHEERS) grid. Among the 525 articles identified from the databases, 11 were selected. Clinical benefits were mostly measured in terms of a reduction in the risk of adverse events related to care and reductions in the duration of mechanical ventilation and in-ICU and in-hospital length-of-stays. No impact on the mortality rate was demonstrated. All studies reported cost-benefit ratios ranging from €2.48 to €24.20 per €1 invested. The avoided costs per patient ranged from €29.73 to €194.24 per day of hospitalisation. The mean CHEERS compliance score was 63%±17%, demonstrating the heterogeneous quality of these analyses. International pharmacoeconomic evaluations on the impact of the clinical pharmacist operating in the ICU revealed both economic and clinical benefits for the patient. Larger randomised studies are required to confirm the major role of the pharmacist in the ICU.