Promoting Appropriate Drug Use Through the Application of the Spanish Drug-Related Problem Classification System in the Primary Care Setting

Drug-Related Problems of Patients in Primary Health Care Institutions: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Drug-related problems (DRPs) are not only detrimental to patients' physical health and quality of life but also lead to a serious waste of health care resources. The condition of DRPs might be more severe for patients in primary health care institutions.

Objective: This systematic review aims to comprehensively review the characteristics of DRPs for patients in primary health care institutions, which might help find effective strategies to identify, prevent, and intervene with DRPs in the future.

Methods: We searched three English databases (Embase, The Cochrane Library, and PubMed) and four Chinese databases (CNKI, CBM, VIP, and Wanfang). Two of the researchers independently conducted literature screening, quality evaluation, and data extraction. Qualitative and quantitative methods were combined to analyze the data.

Results: From the 3,368 articles screened, 27 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. The median (inter-quartile range, IQR) of the incidences of DRPs was 70.04% (59%), and the median (IQR) of the average number of DRPs per patient was 3.4 (2.8). The most common type of DRPs was “treatment safety.” The causes of DRPs were mainly in the prescribing section, including “drug selection” and “dose selection”, while patients' poor adherence in the use section was also an important cause of DRPs. Risk factors such as the number of medicines, age, and disease condition were positively associated with the occurrence of DRPs. In addition, the medians (IQR) of the rate of accepted interventions, implemented interventions, and solved DRPs were 78.8% (22.3%), 64.15% (16.85%), and 76.99% (26.09%), respectively.

Conclusion: This systematic review showed that the condition of DRPs in primary health care institutions was serious. In pharmaceutical practice, the patients with risk factors of DRPs should be monitored more closely. Pharmacists could play important roles in the identification and intervention of DRPs, and more effective intervention strategies need to be established in the future.

Role and impact of pharmacists in Spain: a scoping review

Background The role of the pharmacist has evolved greatly over the last decades, expanding to patient-oriented activities, administrative tasks and public health functions. However, considerable differences emerge across regions. Aim of the review To gather evidence in order to describe and highlight the different characteristics of the pharmacists' role and the impact of their activities in Spain. Method A review of the existing literature was conducted. The literature search was undertaken in PubMed between 01/01/2006 and 15/08/2017. Results were screened and reviewed to extract previously established criteria such as author(s), publication year, language, study design, setting, pharmaceutical activity, patient care programs, targeted diseases and intervention description using DEPICT2 tool. Pharmaceutical intervention were classified into eight outcome measures and categorized by types of outcomes reported: descriptive or impact evaluation regarding the effect of the service (positive, neutral or negative). Results The search strategy resulted in 473 articles and 108 articles met the inclusion criteria. The most common design was observational (n = 76, 70%). Most articles were published after 2011 (75%), in English (69%). Studies were conducted in hospitals (60%) and community pharmacies (30%). Of the 24 pharmaceutical activities identified, medication review was the activity most frequently studied (n = 42), followed by patient education (n = 29), risk and prevention (n = 27) and medication reconciliation (n = 19). Only 39 articles (36%) had outcome measures with impact evaluation. Of the 223 impact outcome measures, 48% (107/223) had a positive effect. Conclusion This review shows the substantial scientific production focusing on pharmacy practice in Spain over the last years. The evidence reviewed reflects the pharmacist role at various professional settings, providing a wide variety of activities on diverse targeted diseases and patient care programs, in line with the increasing specialization of clinical pharmacists over the last years.

Development of an Aggregated System for Classifying Causes of Drug-Related Problems

Background: More than 20 different types of classification systems for drug-related problems (DRPs) and their causes have been developed. Classification is necessary to describe and assess clinical, organizational, and economic impacts of DRPs through documentation of collected data. However, many researchers have judged classification systems incomplete when describing their data, and have modified them or developed their own. This variability between systems has made study comparisons difficult. Objectives: To perform a category-by-category comparison of the content of selected DRP classification systems to construct an aggregated cause-of-DRP classification system containing the content of all systems. Method: DRP classification systems were identified after a literature review, with 7 chosen based on their use in varied health care settings, geographical diversity, frequency of use, and method of development. These systems were critically analyzed, and the content of each category was compared and aggregated where appropriate. A hierarchy of categories was constructed to include all content from all systems. Any modifications that previous studies may have made to the 7 systems were also cross-referenced to ensure that no concepts were missing from the newly aggregated system. Clinical examples to optimize application, and instructions for when or when not to use categories, were developed. Interrater agreement for classification of the causes of DRPs from 10 medication reviews was performed between 3 clinical pharmacists and the authors’ gold standard. Results: We found variation in developmental methods, category descriptions, number and types of categories, and validation methods between the 7 selected systems, together with intermingling of categories identified as causes of DRPs with DRPs themselves. A hierarchical classification system was constructed consisting of 9 cause-of-DRP categories, 33 subcategories, and 58 sub-subcategories, for which interrater agreements were 82.5%, 74.6%, and 58.8%, respectively. Conclusion: An aggregated classification system was constructed through a unique and transparent developmental process that may provide the most comprehensive description of causes of DRPs to date. This may facilitate teaching of pharmaceutical care, comparisons of clinical practice, and measurement of the effectiveness of pharmaceutical care interventions.

Application of a prescribing indicators tool to assist in identifying drug-related problems in a cohort of older Australians

Objective

Drug-related problems (DRPs) are common in older people, resulting in a disproportionate number of serious medication adverse events. Pharmacist-led interventions have been shown to be effective in identifying and reducing DRPs such as medication interactions, omission of recommended medications and use of ineffective medications. In 2008 we proposed a prescribing indicators tool to assist in identifying DRPs as part of the Australian medication review process. The objective was to apply the proposed prescribing indicators tool to a cohort of older Australians, to assess its use in detecting potential DRPs.

Methods

The prescribing indicators tool was applied in a cross-sectional observational study to 126 older (aged ≥65 years) English-speaking Australians taking five or more medications, as they were being discharged from a small private hospital into the community. Indicators were unmet when prescribing did not adhere to indicator tool guidelines.

Key findings

We found a high incidence of under-treatment, and use of inappropriate medications. There were on average 18 applicable indicators per patient, with each patient having on average seven unmet indicators.

Conclusion

The use of a prescribing indicators tool for commonly used medications and common medical conditions in older Australians may contribute to the efficient identification of DRPs.

Causes of drug-related problems in the emergency room of a hospital in southern Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To assess the frequency and types of drug-related problems (DRPs) in patients seeking emergency care in a teaching hospital in southern Brazil and to identify the possible causes and drugs involved in these problems.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was performed, using a structured questionnaire for data collection. Multivariate logistic regression was used to control for possible confounding factors and to establish an independent association between the presence of DRPs and the amount of medication, patient's age and their educational level.

RESULTS

A total of 350 patients were interviewed. The frequency of DRPs was 31.6%. Quantitative ineffectiveness was observed in 30.9% of DRPs and the main cause of the DRP was an inadequate dosing regimen. Sixty-six DRPs (53.7%) were caused by the health system or the health professionals. Factors independently influencing the development of DRPs were educational level and the number of drugs being taken.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that one-third of the patients attending the emergency room of our hospital had a drug-related problem, highlighting the importance of considering drugs as a possible cause of health problems and the need for their more rational use.