The role of a clinical pharmacist in a multidisciplinary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis clinic

Patients with ALS have complicated medication regimens and many questions about medications. Our multidisciplinary ALS clinic includes a clinical pharmacist, and the purpose of this study was to assess the types and outcomes of consultative interactions. This was a prospective, data collection study of patients seen by the pharmacist at a single ALS clinic visit. The following data were obtained: 1) current medications; 2) number and types of pharmacy interventions; 3) amount of time spent by the pharmacist with each patient. Thirty-seven patients were included. The average number of prescriptions used per patient was 3.59 (0-10) with 1.75 (0-9) used for ALS related indications. The average number of pharmacist interventions was two per patient, with the majority related to medication monitoring and optimizing drug therapy for ALS symptoms. The pharmacist provided education on an average of 2.5 topics per patient. The pharmacist spent an average of 21 (5-50) min with each patient. In conclusion, a clinical pharmacist contributes to the team by: 1) optimizing drug therapy for ALS symptoms; 2) providing medication-related education to patients; 3) allowing more time for the neurologist to attend to neurologic issues; and 4) discussing general medicine issues.