Sara E Ibrahim¹ , Shoroq Al-Gadi², Mohammed A El-Sisi³, Mohammed A Alrifai⁴, Mona Maher⁵, Amina Ibrahim Badawy⁶, Huda Mahmoud Saadat⁷, Hammad Yahia Abdoh⁸, Mai Mostafa Hegazy⁹, Rasha Saad Abdalhamid⁶, Briegeen Girvin¹⁰

¹Clinical Pharmacy Department, Al-Rayan National College of Health Science and Nursing, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, 41411; ¹⁰Briegeen Girvin: School of Pharmacy - Queen’s University Belfast, Medical Biology Centre, 97 Lisburn Road, Belfast, UK. ²Al Haram Hospital, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, 41411; ³Al Hayat National Hospital-Al Madinah Branch, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, 41411, Saudi Arabia; ⁴Jamjoom Pharma Company, Jeddah, 42324, Saudi Arabia; ⁵Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA), Cairo, Egypt; ⁶Nursing Department, Al-Rayan National College of Health Science and Nursing, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah, 41411, Saudi Arabia; ⁷Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharm-D Department, Tanta University, Tanta; ⁸Hammad Yahia Abdoh: Anatomy Department, Batterjee Medical College, Saudi Arabia; ⁹Faculty of Medicine, Menoufia University, Menoufia, Egypt;

For correspondence:-  Sara Ibrahim   Email: Se.Ibrahim@amc.edu.sa   Tel:00966-549575056

Received: 9 February 2025        Accepted: 2 September 2025        Published: 30 September 2025

Citation: Ibrahim SE, Al-Gadi S, El-Sisi MA, Alrifai MA, Maher M, Badawy AI, et al. Impact of pharmacist independent prescription on critical care: A prospective interventional study in Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Trop J Pharm Res 2025; 24(9):1185-1192 doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/tjpr.v24i9.11

© 2025 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To compare the impact of pharmacist independent prescribers (PIPs) with that of regular physician-based prescriptions in the Madinah Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods: This prospective interventional study was conducted over 4 months and involved 40 critically ill patients in an adult medical intensive care unit (ICU) in a medium-sized non-teaching (private) hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Data from 20 patients based on typical physician prescriptions were compared with data from 20 patients under PIP prescriptions. The primary outcomes comprised the rate of medication errors (MEs), length of hospital stay (LOS), cost-effectiveness of prescriptions, and patients’ status. The secondary outcomes were guideline adherence and mortality rates. Results: There were significant PIP-mediated reductions in MEs. A total of 156 errors were identified: 23 by PIP (14 %) and 133 (86 %) by physicians. Moreover, PIP had 75 % guideline adherence when compared to physicians. The difference in cost-effectiveness was statistically significant in favor of PIP, resulting in a lower LOS of 7½ days compared to the physician group. Conclusion: These results indicate that integrating PIP into a multidisciplinary team will enhance medication use, reduce the rate of MEs, improve cost-effectiveness, and enhance patients’ outcomes. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to measure the effect of PIP on mortality rate.

Keywords: Pharmacist independent prescriber, Adult intensive care unit, Prescriber in ICUs, Critical care clinical pharmacist, Saudi Arabia

Impact Factor
Thompson Reuters (ISI): 0.6 (2023)
H-5 index (Google Scholar): 49 (2023)