PSU22 DETERMINATION OF INCIDENCE AND PREDICTORS OF DRUG RELATED PROBLEMS AMONG GENERAL SURGERY PATIENTS

Abstract

To determine the incidence and predictors of drug related problems among general surgery patients. A prospective interventional study was conducted for a period of 9 months in the General Surgery wards of a tertiary care hospital. All the patients admitted were reviewed on daily basis and those who met the study criteria were enrolled into the study and were followed till discharge. All the necessary data were collected from medical records and reviewed to identify DRPs (Drug Related Problems) and categorized as per Hepler and Strand classification. The patients with DRPs and without DRPs were grouped and compared according to their age, gender, number of drugs administered during hospital stay, comorbid condition(s), length of stay. The predictors associated with the DRPs were identified at a P value of < 0.05. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to obtain P value for categorical variables. The incidence of DRPs was calculated by taking the ratio of patients who were identified with DRPs to the total number of patients admitted to general surgery ward during the study period. 471 DRPs were observed from 301 patients. The incidence of DRPs in general surgery was 26.6%. Among 1311 patients followed during the study period,300 patients who did not have had DRP were considered as control group. Female gender, ≥ 6 medications and > 8 days of length of stay were found to be significant (P<0.05) associated with DRPs. Determining predictors may help to identify patients at risk for DRPs and may enable clinical pharmacists to play an enormous role in optimization of drug therapy thereby improving clinical outcomes, reduce the health care cost and limit the occurrence of DRPs to an extent.