INNOVATIONS in pharmacy

Drug Therapy Problem Identification and Resolution by Clinical Pharmacists in a Family Medicine Residency Clinic

Danielle MacDonald

Hannah Chang

University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Duluth, MN)

Yi Wei

University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Duluth, MN

Keri D. Hager

Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/iip.v9i2.971

Keywords: drug therapy problems, family medicine residents, medication-related problems, pharmacist-physician collaboration, residency teaching clinic

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Abstract

 

Purpose: There are limited data to evaluate the impact of ambulatory clinical pharmacist recommendations on family medicine resident prescribing and monitoring of medications. The purpose of this study is to begin to gain insight in this area by answering the research question, “How many ambulatory clinical pharmacist recommendations for drug therapy problem (DTP) resolution are implemented on the day of a medication therapy management (MTM) visit in an outpatient family medicine residency clinic?”

Methods: This is a retrospective chart review of face-to-face MTM encounters conducted by ambulatory clinical pharmacists (including pharmacist residents) from August 1, 2012 to June 30, 2015 at a family medicine residency clinic. Descriptive statistics were conducted to both quantify the number of DTPs identified and resolved on the day of the MTM visit as well as categorize the DTPs.

Results: Based on the 728 MTM encounters analyzed, patients were an average of 53.6 years old and took 11.9 medications to treat 5.7 medical conditions. A total of 3057 DTPs were identified in the 728 encounters, of which 1303 were resolved the same day as the MTM visit. This resulted in an average of 4.2 DTPs identified and 2.0 resolved per visit per patient. The most common DTP category identified in this study was the need for additional drug therapy (41.6%).

Conclusions: Approximately half of the ambulatory clinical pharmacist’s DTP resolution recommendations were implemented the same day they were identified, which highlights the strength of team-based patient care and interprofessional collaboration in a residency teaching clinic.

 

Conflict of Interest
We declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests that the authors or members of their immediate families have in any product or service discussed in the manuscript, including grants (pending or received), employment, gifts, stock holdings or options, honoraria, consultancies, expert testimony, patents and royalties.

Treatment of Human Subjects: IRB determined project was non-HSR

 

Type: Original Research