Pharmacist interventions in POYC patients

Abstract

Pharmacists play an important role in identifying treatment issues and advising patients. Pharmacist interventions when interacting with patients receiving their chronic medications through the Pharmacy of Your Choice (POYC) scheme provide an opportunity to identify inappropriate medicine use and create seamless flow of medication management. The purpose of this study was to observe and analyse pharmacist interventions in dealing with POYC patients. Qualitative methodology was undertaken to develop a data collection sheet to capture pharmacist interventions when interacting with patients during POYC medication dispensing. In the data collection, PCNE classification was used to classified the DRPs found. Observation sessions were undertaken over 8 weeks and interventions studied according to a convenience sample. Study approval from the University and Research Ethics committee and a consent letter from the managing pharmacist where the study was observed was obtained respectively. The study was carried out in a community pharmacy in Mosta Malta. Identification and classification of interventions by community pharmacist were identified; out of (n=105) patient observation, (n=85) pharmacist-patient interventions classified according to contribution towards; (n=7) invalid prescription, (n=5) entitlement for medication, (n=57) drug-related problems, (n=9) patient advice, (n=7) pharmacists contact with POYC and the total time (543minutes) taken for pharmacist interventions. The study analysis pharmacist interventions and the time taken to manage the intervention, using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA). A significant relationship was observed (pvalue=0.009). Understanding pharmacist-led interventions in POYC patients contributes to identify professional and administrative duties and to establish value of this intervention towards reducing medicine-related problems.