Research Article
Published: 01 October, 2020 | Volume 4 - Issue 1 | Pages: 020-023
Background: An event involving drug therapy that actually or potentially interfers with the desired health outcomes is known as drug therapy problem.
Objective: The study aimed to identify and resolve potential drug related problems encountered among adult hypertensive patients receiving care in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital. Methods: This was a prospective cross sectional study. The data were collected from the patients’ medical records using the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) Classification tool Version 6.2 (PCNE, 2010). For each of the 171 medical records, the DTPs experienced within the study period were identified. Data were analyzed using the IBM Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) for Windows, Version 21.0 (IBM Corp, Version 21.0, and Armonk, NY, USA).
Results: Majority of the patients were above 65years of age 64(37.4%), while about half of the patients were females. A total of 644 drug therapy problems were identified. The major cause of DTP was prescribing error 189(29.3). Other causes of drug therapy problem identified in this study were inappropriate drug selection 122(18.9), no indication for drugs 52(8.1), inappropriate drug combination 87(13.6), new indication presented 61(9.5), dose too high 62(9.6), dose too low 44(6.8), wrong drug taken/administered 27(4.2). Majority of the interventions made were accepted 586(91.0%) while only 3(0.5%) of the interventions made were not accepted.
Conclusion: This study demonstrates that a pharmacist, with adequate training and support can play a vital role in identifying and resolving drug therapy problems. Also, there is a need for an educational intervention among prescribing physicians to update them regularly on hypertension guidelines.
Read Full Article HTML DOI: 10.29328/journal.ach.1001024 Cite this Article Read Full Article PDF
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