An investigational study of pharmaceutical care issues in individual patients in a hospital setting

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tiwari, Pramil | Sukhpreet,

Affiliations: Department of Pharmacy Practice, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Education, S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab, India

Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. P. Tiwari, Department of Pharmacy Practice, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Education, Sector 67, SAS Nagar-160062, Punjab, India. Tel.: +91 172 221 4682 86, ext. 2135; Fax: +91 172 221 4692; E-mail: [email protected].

Abstract: Aim: To investigate the pharmaceutical care issues in individual patients in a hospital setting. Method: A total of 130 patients from the inpatient department of a hospital were studied in a ten month period. Seven different pharmaceutical care issues were addressed and were analyzed using standard references like British National Formulary and Stockley's drug interactions. Result: A total of 1432 medicines were prescribed to 130 patients (an average of 11 medicines per patient). A total of 564 pharmaceutical care issues were identified in 130 patients and the average number of pharmaceutical care issue per patient was over four. The most commonly prevalent issue was drug–drug interaction. In the second place was inappropriate dose, followed by the requirement of monitoring and inappropriate frequency of drug administration. The need for education was also identified in 42 patients. However, there was no pharmaceutical care issue related to the route of administration. Conclusion: The professional practice of pharmacy is in infancy in India and the results point to the need for not only sensitizing but also training the pharmacists so that they could start working on such patient-centered activity and lead to improvement in the delivery of healthcare.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical care issue, inappropriateness, drug–drug interactions

Journal: International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 99-105, 2006