Assessment of clinical pharmacist interventions in drug therapy in patients with diabetes mellitus in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

AimTo assess the impact of clinical pharmacist interventions in drug therapy in hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus. MethodsA Prospective interventional study was carried out in the medicine wards of a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of 10 months from September 2013 to June 2014. The drug therapy details of the patients were collected from inpatient case records in the respective clinical wards. Clinical pharmacist reviewed the drug therapy, identified the drug related problems during ward rounds and discussed with the physicians and suitable suggestions was provided which had been documented. ResultsA total of 189 drug therapy problems were identified from 151 patient case records. The number of drug related problems was found to more in males than females. Drug related problems were commonly seen in patients aged between 61 and 70 years of age. The most common drug related problems was found to be drug use without indication (17.98%) followed by improper drug selection (16.40%). The most frequent suggestions by the clinical pharmacist were on cessation of drug (30.68%). The acceptance rate of suggestions and the changes in drug therapy was found to be high (58.20%). The majority of the level of significance of drug related problems was seen to have moderate significance in grade. ConclusionInvolvement of clinical pharmacist as a member of healthcare team during ward rounds in hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus helps in identification and prevention of drug related problems which will helps to rationalize drug therapy, achieve better therapeutic outcomes and improved patient care.