IMPACT OF A PHARMACIST-BASED CONSULT SERVICE ON NUTRITIONAL REHABILITATION OF NONAMBULATORY PATIENTS WITH SEVERE DEVELOPMENTAL-DISABILITIES

A pharmacist consult service was developed to evaluate the appropriate ness of enteral feeding through a permanent ostomy in 24 nonambulatory patients with severe developmental disabilities. Several problems wit h enteral nutrition were identified. Policies to improve them were ins tituted, and several educational presentations were made. Pharmacists' actions were implemented, including assessment of energy needs by ind irect calorimetry and rearrangement of enteral feeding schedules to ac hieve optimal nutrition support and pharmacotherapy administration. By the fourth month of the consult service, body weight in these patient s increased from 101 +/- 6% of baseline to 109 +/- 7% (p<0.05). Weight continued to increase through the seventh month of the consult servic e to 116 +/- 12% of baseline (p<0.0001). Measured resting energy expen diture for the group was 889 +/- 170 kcal/day compared with the predic ted 1055 +/- 163 kcal/day.