The Critical Role of Critical Care Pharmacists

This course reviews the role of critical care pharmacists (CCP) in the ICU and can be taken by anyone interested in the topic. It offers continuing education (CE) credit for United States healthcare practitioners, particularly pharmacy professionals. Despite the proven benefits of critical care pharmacists as vital members of the ICU healthcare team, many critically ill patients do not receive CCP care. This course explores the impact of CCPs on patient outcomes, medication safety, and cost reduction. Through a gap analysis approach, participants will learn strategies for optimizing critical care pharmacy services and implementing novel CCP staffing models. The course also identifies barriers to optimizing these services and provides actionable approaches to enhance CCP roles across various hospital settings, ensuring the delivery of patient-centered care in critical care environments.