"IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUATION OF DRUG RELATED PROBLEMS AND ITS PREVALENCE IN MEDICAL AND EMERGENCY WARD OF ATERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL"

According to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe Foundation (PCNE) classification, “A Drug-Related Problems (DRPs) is an event or circumstance involving drug therapy that actually or potentially interferes with desired health outcomes.” DRPs might result in reduced quality of life, prolonged hospital stay and even raises the risk of morbidity and mortality. A clinical pharmacist plays a significant role in reviewing the prescriptions for drug- related problems. This in turn provides a channel for clinical intervention, thereby improving patient’s quality of care. The prospective, observational, Interventional study focused to identify, evaluate and study the prevalence of drug related problems in medical and emergency unit of a tertiary care teaching hospital. A total of 202 cases was analyzed for DRPs, in which males were prominent 58.91% than females 41.09%. In this study, patients of age group 41-60 years (39.60%) were prevailing. Out of 202 cases, 182 cases were identified with DRP and 20 cases without DRPs. Drug-Drug interactions (67.13%) were the top ranking DRP. Loop diuretics were the common class of drugs involved in DRPs. There was an association between age, poly-pharmacy and length of hospital stay with DRPs. The prevalence of DRP was 90.10%. Interventions were proposed for every DRPs identified. This study demonstrates the importance of clinical pharmacy services in enhancing patient’s health care by decreasing the frequency of occurrence of drug related problems