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Enhancing antifungal stewardship: The educational and healthcare benefits of involving pharmacy students in audits

Summary

Researchers studied how involving pharmacy students in reviewing fluconazole (an antifungal medication) prescriptions could help hospitals improve their antifungal medication use and provide valuable training. Out of 145 prescriptions audited, about two-thirds were appropriate while one-third had issues like unnecessary use or drug interactions. Both the students and hospitals benefited significantly, with students gaining practical clinical experience while hospitals identified prescribing problems that could be improved.

Background

Antifungal stewardship is important for promoting quality care and tackling drug resistance. However, barriers to undertaking antifungal stewardship activities include lack of dedicated pharmacist time and expertise. Pharmacy students could help fill this gap while gaining educational experience.

Objective

To perform a clinical audit of fluconazole prescribing and explore whether involvement of pharmacy students in this process was feasible and meaningful from both pharmacy student and health system perspectives.

Results

A total of 145 fluconazole prescriptions were audited: 62.8% were appropriate, 31.7% inappropriate, and 5.5% not assessable. Potential drug-drug interactions were identified in 17 patients, with 3 clinically significant. Students had positive experiences with the audit in terms of enjoyment, support, and education, with enhanced understanding of fungal infections and antifungal prescribing.

Conclusion

Involving pharmacy students in antifungal audits is feasible and provides significant benefits for both education and healthcare. Students gain valuable clinical experience while hospitals benefit from comprehensive antifungal stewardship audits. However, successful implementation requires proper training, supervision, and clinical support.
  • Published in:Medical Mycology,
  • Study Type:Clinical Audit with Educational Assessment,
  • Source: PMID: 40828582, DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myaf074
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