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The following is a summary of “Building a Pediatric Neurocritical Care Program: The Role of the Clinical Pharmacist Practitioner on Clinical Practice and Education. A Curriculum for Neuropharmacology Training,” published in the February 2024 issue of Pediatrics by Cokley et al.
Clinical pharmacists play an integral role within healthcare teams, offering invaluable expertise in medication management for patients across acute and chronic conditions. Through the lens of epilepsy, pharmacist involvement in patient care has demonstrated substantial reductions in monthly seizure frequency. Notably, pediatric epilepsy cases exhibit greater complexity due to varied etiologies, necessitating a comprehensive approach with consideration for pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic disparities. In this context, including pediatric clinical pharmacist practitioners with specialized neuropharmacology knowledge becomes imperative. The pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) increasingly encounters critically ill patients with epilepsy and other neurological conditions, presenting heightened medical complexities that elevate the risk of medication errors and escalate healthcare costs.
Recognizing the pivotal role of neurocritical care education in enhancing patient outcomes, integrating clinical pharmacist practitioners into these settings yields notable benefits across major health metrics. Notably, the Neurocritical Care Society established consensus recommendations 2018 outlining standards for adult neurocritical care unit development. Introducing a pharmacist-led pediatric critical care neuropharmacology rotation emerges as an innovative strategy to augment physician education and subsequently elevate patient outcomes.
While literature underscores the significance of adult critical care and neurocritical care pharmacists, scant attention has been given to the role and contributions of pediatric neurocritical care (PNCC) pharmacists. To fill this gap, this manuscript serves as a pioneering endeavor, delineating the pivotal role of clinical pharmacist practitioners in the inception of PNCC programs and elucidating their multifaceted benefits in patient care and education.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1071909124000056