Abstract
Pharmacist-led medication reviews have been shown to improve medication management, reducing the adverse effects of polypharmacy among older adults. This paper quantitatively examines the medications, medication discrepancies and drug therapy problems of recipients in primary care. A convenience sample of 16 primary care team pharmacists in Ontario, Canada contributed data for patients with whom they conducted a medication review over a prior four-week period. Data were uploaded using electronic data capture forms and descriptive analyses were completed. Two hundred and thirty-seven patients (on average, 67.9 years old) were included in the study, taking an average of 9.2 prescription medications (4.7). Majority of these patients (83.5%) were categorized as polypharmacy patients taking at least five or more prescribed drugs per day. Just over half of the patients were classified as having a low level of medication complexity (52.3%). Pharmacists identified 2.1 medication discrepancies (3.9) and 3.6 drug therapy problems per patient (2.8). Half these patients had more than one medication discrepancy and almost every patient had a drug therapy problem identified. Medication reviews conducted by pharmacists in primary care teams minimized medication discrepancies and addressed drug therapy problems to improve medication management and reduce adverse events that may result from polypharmacy.
Highlights
Chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are the leading cause of death worldwide and pose a significant challenge for healthcare providers to address in a comprehensive and coordinated manner [1,2,3]
The objectives of this study are to understand the extent of polypharmacy, the processes and selected consequences of pharmacist-led medication reviews done in FHTs in the province of Ontario, Canada
Thiswhich study,describes which describes medication reviews conducted byas pharmacists as part of interdisciplinary primary carefound teams,that found reviews conducted by pharmacists part of interdisciplinary primary care teams, a large that of a patients large majority of patients cared for bywere the older pharmacists were older classified patients
Summary
Approximately one in three Canadians live with at least one major chronic disease and this is expected to rise as a result of an aging population and other lifestyle risk factors [1,4]. Care for such patients is a growing focus in health services research and public health policy [1]. There is considerable strain on healthcare systems as multimorbidity is increasingly recognized as a cause of poor health outcomes, increased health service use, and associated costs [5,8,9]. Age is a risk factor in developing chronic diseases and patients with multiple diseases are at a greater risk of adverse health outcomes, more frequent hospital admissions, longer hospital stays, regular medical specialist visits, and mortality [6,10,11]
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