Ayurapa Prigsuwan. Drug interaction monitoring service in Inpatient Pharmacy Department at Bumrungrad Hospital . Master's Degree(Clinical Pharmacy). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2004.
Drug interaction monitoring service in Inpatient Pharmacy Department at Bumrungrad Hospital
Abstract:
Providing drug interaction monitoring service is an important role of the
pharmacist. The objectives of this study were to implement the service in which
pharmacists detect and prevent drug interaction, to determine the physician’s or
nurse’s acceptance of the pharmacist’s intervention (directed to the prevention of
adverse outcomes of drug interaction) and the results of the intervention in the patient
care process, and to investigate both potential and actual drug interactions. In this
study, a service was set up and implemented as the routine activity in an inpatient
pharmacy department to monitor patients who were admitted in medical and surgical
wards at Bumrungrad Hospital. Staff pharmacists used a non-computerized screening
method consisting of a drug interaction card to check the various 35 alerting drug
interactions of five alerting drugs. This was followed by a staff pharmacist or clinical
pharmacist intervention. The results showed that, during the four months of the study,
81 drug interactions – 80 potential, one actual – were detected in 68 out of 4,624
patients. Of these 81, 50 (62%) were followed by intervention. Of these 50
interventions, 32% (16/50) were performed by staff pharmacists and 68% (34/50)
were performed by a clinical pharmacist. The most common type of intervention
performed by staff pharmacists was contacting nurses to change the time of drug
administration between interacting drugs, whereas the most common type of
intervention performed by the clinical pharmacist was recommending the physician to
monitor laboratory tests or observe clinical signs and symptoms for adverse drug
interactions. Physicians and nurses accepted 92% (44/48) of the interventions.
Various forms of patient care regarding drug interaction were taken after the
interventions. In conclusion, participation of pharmacists in the drug interaction
monitoring service will assist in attaining the proper drug therapy for the patient.