Analysis of drug related problems in patients taking multiple drugs

Analysis of interaction risks of patients with polypharmacy and the pharmacist interventions performed to solve them — A multicenter descriptive study according to medication reviews in Hungarian community pharmacies

One of the pharmacists key tasks is to review prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs to check and screen for drug related problems and errors in medication, including the interaction between drugs.

In the research project of the Semmelweis University Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Administration 78 pharmacists checked the medication of 755 patients taking at least 5 drugs regularly. A total of 984 drug-related-problems (1.3 per patient) were registered.

The most common problem was the interaction of different drugs in 54% of the cases, which were solved by the pharmacists within their own competence in 63.1% of the cases, while in 27.4% of the cases GPs were notified and involved. In 14.9% of thee cases, it was recommended to modify the therapy in 14.9% of the cases due to clinical risks. However, in 30.9% of the above cases, the problem did not pose a real risk. In addition to drug interactions, the most common drug related problems were side effects (8.6%), the use of additional drugs due to the patient’s condition (8.2%) and the non-adherence of patients (8.0%).

“The study has drawn attention to the importance of the pharmacist’s role in identifying medication problems, and the cooperation between doctor and pharmacist. It also suggests the development of a pharmaceutical guideline to properly classify the interaction risks based on clinical relevance”,  pointed out Dr. András Szilvay, technical assistant of the University Pharmacy Department of Pharmacy Administration.