Expanding the Reach of Critical Care Pharmacists Globally*

Drug therapy plays a key role in treating critical illness; the average ICU patient receives more than 30 different medications (1). Critical care clinicians are faced with numerous decisions each day regarding drug selection, dosing, administration, availability, cost, and monitoring. A failure to appropriately manage these complex issues increases the risk for patient harm. The intensivist-led, multidisciplinary team (MDT) has been embraced as a model of care for the critically ill by clinicians, hospitals, and outside stakeholders (2).