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Drug related problems identified in medication reviews by Australian pharmacists
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 00:30 authored by Stafford, AC, Peter TenniPeter Tenni, Gregory PetersonGregory Peterson, Shane JacksonShane Jackson, Hejlesen, A, Villesen, C, Rasmussen, MObjective In Australia, accredited pharmacists perform medication reviews for patients to identify and resolve drug-related problems. We analysed the drug-related problems identified in reviews for both home-dwelling and residential care-facility patients. The objective of this study was to examine the number and nature of the drug-related problems identified and investigate differences between each type of review. Setting Australian patients living at home or in residential care-facilities. Method We collected a nation-wide sample of medication reviews conducted between 1998 and 2005. These reviews had been self-selected by pharmacists and submitted as part of the reaccreditation process to the primary body responsible for accrediting Australian pharmacists to perform medication reviews. The drug-related problems identified in each review were classified by type and drugs involved. Main outcome measure The number and nature of drug-related problems identified in pharmacist-conducted medication reviews. Results There were 1,038 drug-related problems identified in 234 medication reviews (mean 4.6 (±2.2) problems per review). The number of problems was higher (4.9 ± 2.0 vs. 3.9 ± 2.2; P < 0.001) in reviews for home-dwelling patients compared with care-facility residents. The number of clinically-significant problems was higher (2.1 ± 1.1 vs. 1.5 ± 0.7; P < 0.001) for home-dwelling patients. Oral hypoglycaemics and analgesics/antipyretics were significantly more likely to be associated with problems in home-dwelling patients than in residential care-facility patients. Conclusion These data illustrate the prevalence of drug-related problems and the ability of pharmacists to identify these problems in the Australian models of medication review. The nature and frequency of problems varied between reviews for home-dwelling and care-facility patients. Such information may be used to better focus the training of practitioners based on the most frequently encountered health problems and the nature of common drug-related problems in the two settings.
History
Publication title
Pharmacy World and Science: A Journal Devoted to Rational Drug UseVolume
31Pagination
216-223ISSN
0928-1231Department/School
School of Pharmacy and PharmacologyPublisher
Kluwer Academic PublPlace of publication
Van Godewijckstraat 30, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 33Rights statement
The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.comRepository Status
- Restricted