What does this research mean for the field?

Critical care pharmacist activities improve clinically relevant outcomes in the intensive care unit. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.SUPPORTS_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

This review aims to evaluate the impact of critical care pharmacist activities on patient outcomes in the intensive care unit.

February 19, 2026

Measuring Critical Care Pharmacist Value: A Scoping Review of the Effect of Critical Care Pharmacist Activities on Clinically Relevant Outcomes

Key Points

This review aims to evaluate the impact of critical care pharmacist activities on patient outcomes in the intensive care unit.
Conducted a scoping review assessing studies on critical care pharmacist activities.
Analyzed data from major health databases spanning from 1980 to October 2025.
Included studies focused on clinically relevant outcomes related to CCP interventions.
71 studies were included after reviewing 5971 articles.
Common CCP activities included antimicrobial stewardship, sedation optimization, and medication safety.
42 studies (59%) showed significant improvements in outcomes due to CCP interventions.

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background Critical care pharmacists (CCPs) are recognized as essential members of the intensive care unit (ICU) multidisciplinary patient care team, yet still find it necessary to justify their presence. Therefore, it is important to understand which CCP activities provide the most value to patient outcomes to inform discussions about CCP practice and guide development of quality measures (QM) and key performance indicators (KPI). Methods We aimed to conduct a scoping review of studies that assessed the effect of CCP patient care activities on clinically relevant outcomes in an intensive care unit (ICU) to guide development of QM/KPI. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, Healthcare Administration Databases (via ProQuest), PubMed, and Web of Science from 1980 through October 1, 2025 were searched using the following search terms: “pharmacist,” “critical care,” “critically ill,” “intensive care units,” and “ICU.” Results The search strategy retrieved 5971 articles of which 71 studies were included. Most studies were single‐center evaluations, and the most common areas of CCP activity were antimicrobial stewardship (17 studies, 24%), sedation optimization (11 studies, 15%), pharmacotherapy management (10 studies, 14%), and medication safety (8 studies, 11%). The most common outcomes assessed were ICU length of stay (LOS) (55 studies, 77%), mortality (44 studies, 62%), hospital LOS (29 studies, 41%), duration of mechanical ventilation (20 studies, 28%), and medication errors (11 studies, 15%). Forty‐two studies (59%) showed a statistically significant difference in the outcomes assessed favoring the CCP activity. Multiple QM/KPI were derived from specific CCP activities performed in these studies. Conclusions Many studies documented improvements in clinically relevant outcomes because of the care provided by a CCP. QM/KPI derived from CCP activities performed in these studies may be useful in standardizing CCP practice and workflow and further establish CCP value.

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