Table 1.

Role of the Pharmacist in Care for Patients with AKD as part of a patient care team.

Role of pharmacist	Description of the problem	Potential action
Enhancing health literacy about managing medications during AKD	Only 12% of patients thought the kidneys process medicines18	Educate patients at hospital discharge Reach out to patients via telemedicine in their homes Meet with patients in post-AKI ambulatory clinics6,10,19
Managing drug dosing	Almost 5 million ambulatory care visits occur every year due to adverse drug events, and often, these are due to preventable medication errors20	Active involvement in medication management during the hospital stay and at hospital discharge Reach out to patients via telemedicine to perform medication reconciliation Meet with patients in post-AKI ambulatory clinics6,10,19
Avoiding nephrotoxins post AKI	20% of patients with a recent episode of AKI take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs21	Monitor patients in the hospital and intervene as necessary Educate patients at hospital discharge Reach out to patients via telemedicine in their homes Meet with patients in post-AKI ambulatory clinics6,10,19
Cautiously restarting necessary nephrotoxins	Timing the initiation of nephrotoxins post-AKI requires a balance	Guidance on initiating angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers is provided by the National Health Services of England in their program “Think Kidneys”22
Working with patient care team to encourage monitoring	Only about 25% of patients with risk factors for AKI saw a nephrologist within 3 months of the AKI episode23	Serum creatinine and urine albumin monitoring after hospital discharge Testing recovery biomarkers when ready for clinical practice24
Managing diabetes and hypertension as part of a patient care team	Risks for developing AKI include diabetes mellitus and history of hypertension.25 The risk factors for AKD are not substantiated but are possibly similar to AKI.	Active involvement in hospital patient care rounds, ambulatory clinics, and community care for chronic medication management

Note. AKD = acute kidney disease; AKI = acute kidney injury.