Impact of pharmaceutical care programme on health outcome of geriatric patients

Abstract

Background/objectivesHealth related problems of geriatrics require special attention because these people face many problems, associated to health, social support and economic uncertainty. The study aims to evaluate effectiveness of pharmaceutical care programme on health outcome of geriatric patients by identifying the drug related problem, comparing the medication adherence, and quality of life and resolving it. MethodsThe present study was a prospective interventional study carried over a period of three year and the study was performed in 3 phases. MMAS-8 and SF-36 are used in the study to find out medication adherence and quality of life respectively. ResultDuring the study period 770 patients data was collected, out of which maximum patients were in the age group of 60–70 range (50.4%).A total of 813 drug related problems were identified from 770 study subjects. The most common drug related problems was found to be drug interactions (40.9%). Patient counselling and health care information leaflet are the most interventions in the study. The acceptance rate of suggestions and the changes in drug therapy was found to be high (40.1%). Descriptive analysis, chi-square test and t-test are used in this study for statistical analysis. ConclusionPharmacist involvement in inpatients care can significantly help to identify, resolve and prevent the drug related problems. Outcomes of interventions indicate that almost 80.26% of problems are totally solved by pharmacist's interventions in this study. Pharmacist in geriatric health care has a positive influence on their health outcomes.