A Community Based Study to Assess the Consequences of Drug Related Problems in Patients with Chronic Diseases in Dakishina Kannada

Abstract

The presence of DRPs in patients with chronic illnesses is more common due to the longer duration of therapy as well as altered physiology in such patients. They are subjected to take more than one medication including over the counter medication who are more prone to have more DRPs8. Especially in a community setting there will be lack of information as well as documentation. So, awareness regarding these DRPs may help to identify, resolve, and prevent potential DRPs and is a prerequisite for better patient care4. Drug Related Problems (DRPs) may lead to increased health care cost, morbidity, mortality and decreased quality of life2. So, a community based observational study was conducted in different places of Dakshina Kannada district to identify and assess the various drug related problems using Hepler - Strand classification for duration of 6 months from October 2019 to March 2020 by enrolment of 150 patients diagnosed with any chronic disease. Patients diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses, patients aged below 18 years old, pregnant and lactating women were excluded from the study. Medical information was collected using structured patient interview form and data were analysed and interpreted using Microsoft Excel 2010. From this study, it was found that the prevalence of patients identified for the presence of DRPs was 54.67%. The consequences of the drug related problems were found to be hospitalization, poor clinical response, reduced patient compliance and worsening of patient condition. Thus, the study concluded that pharmacist interventions play a major role in identifying and assessing the consequences of  DRPs.