Evaluation of a Pharmacist-Driven Protocol to Reduce Inappropriate Use of Acid-Suppressive Medications In the Non-ICU Setting.

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2 blockers) continue to be over utilized for stress ulcer prophylaxis (SUP). Our study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of a pharmacist-driven termination protocol in a community teaching hospital to limit the inappropriate use of acid-suppressive medications in the non-intensive care unit (ICU) setting.Patient charts were evaluated for the appropriate use of PPIs or H2 blockers. A centralized pharmacist contacted healthcare providers for medication discontinuation if the acid suppressant use was deemed inappropriate. The primary outcome of the study was the number of patients who had acid-suppressive medication discontinued after the implementation of the pharmacist-driven termination protocol.Acid-suppressive medication was inappropriately prescribed for nine patients. It was discontinued for eight of those patients based on the pharmacist-driven termination protocol; this was a statistically significant decrease ( < 0.001). The pharmacist spent, on average, less than one minute on each patient's chart.Our study revealed that a pharmacist-driven termination protocol resulted in a 6% overall reduction rate in inappropriately used acid-suppressive medications, with little impact on pharmacist workflow. Implementing such a termination protocol could help to decrease the inappropriate use of acid-suppressive medications in an inpatient hospital service.