Impact of Counseling and Intervention in Preventing the Drug-Related Problems after Hospitalization and Post-Discharge by Clinical Pharmacist

Background and Objectives: A Drug-Related Problem is an event or circumstance involving drug therapy that actually or potentially interferes with desired health outcome. Drug-related problems can occur at any stage of therapy which might be during prescribing, dispensing, administration. DRP’s account for most of the therapeutic failures. The prevention of DRP is the main responsibility of a pharmacist. According to Pharmaceutical care network Europe, system the DRP’S are classified according to problem, the underlying cause, intervention to be made, acceptance of intervention and outcome. The primary objective of this study was to assess the impact of interventions and counselling on a preventable drug-related problem by a clinical pharmacist.

Methodology: A prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital for 6 months i.e., December-2020 to may-2021

Results and Discussion: A total of 96 DRPs were identified and resolved in which 68 out of 96 DRPs indicate therapeutic failure, 27 out of 96 DRPs were due to drug dose too high and 54 DRPs were resolved by intervention i.e., changing dosage regimen. DRPs were classified based on the type of error in which 27 out of 96 DRPs are due to over prescription of drugs. 30 patients were counseled during discharge about possible DRPs in which 5 out of 30 patients were counseled for cardiovascular disease and after follow up it was found that only 1 patient was readmitted.

Conclusion: Clinical pharmacist plays a key role in detecting, monitoring, evaluating, resolving and preventing drug-related problems. The Clinical pharmacist has a very positive impact on patients through counselling and follow-up. Therefore, better patient care can be provided.