Publication

Abstract : To identify the drug related problems in geriatric population.To recommend apt and possible resolutions for drug related problems observed. To analyze the outcomes made with clinical pharmacist intervention. A prospective interventional study was carried out in the Geriatrics department of AIMS after ethical clearance by the Institutional Review Board. All the patients under the Departmentof Geriatrics were selected during the study period from 1st October 2014 to May 31st 2015. To assess the drug related problems, PCNE (Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe) classification for drug related problems version V6.2 were used.From the 349 geriatric patients included in the study, we have identified 410 drug related problems. These problems were categorized into potential problems(68,16.58%) and manifest problems(342,83.41%). In our study, we have identified effect of drug not optimal as the most common DRP (167,40.73%), adverse drug reaction (90,21.95%), unnecessary drug treatment(55,13.41%), no effect of drug treatment (51,12.43%), untreated indication(30,7.31%), drug treatment more costly than necessary (11,2.68%) and wrong effect of drug treatment(6,1.46%). Effect of drug treatment not optimal was found to be significantly higher than the other problems(p lt; 0.05). For these problems, we have suggested apt and possible clinical pharmacists' intervention to the physician. These were accepted and then conveyed to the patient. Hence we were able to significantly reduce the DRPs in the Geriatrics patients(p lt; 0.05).Through our study, we have identified that clinical pharmacists' initiated interventions plays a vital role in identifying, solving and reducing DRPs among geriatrics patients. These can improve their quality of life.