Impact of Pharmaceutical Care interventions in the identification and resolution of drug-related problems and on quality of life in a group of elderly outpatients in Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brazil

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Authors: Divaldo Pereira de Lyra Júnior, Nadir Kheir, Juliana Palma Abriata, Chiara Ermínia da Rocha, Cláudia Benedita dos Santos, et al

Published Date January 2007 Volume 2007:3(6) Pages 989 - 998

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/TCRM.S

Divaldo Pereira de Lyra Júnior¹, Nadir Kheir², Juliana Palma Abriata³, Chiara Ermínia da Rocha⁴, Cláudia Benedita dos Santos⁵, Irene Rosemir Pelá⁶

¹Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Sergipe, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil; ²Pharmacy Program, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar; ³Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Ribeirão Preto, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil; ⁴Faculty of Pharmacy, Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil; ⁵Nursing College of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil; ⁶Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a Pharmaceutical Care service in the identification and resolution of drug-related problems (DRPs) and in quality of life (QoL) of a group of elderly outpatients with chronic health conditions.

Methods: 30 outpatients (aged 60–75-years old) were followed between August 2003 and July 2004 at a primary health care unit in Ribeirão Preto (SP), Brazil. Patients were scheduled monthly to meet with the researcher, who provided Pharmaceutical Care service (the intervention). Through Pharmaceutical Care, the pharmacist worked with the patient and other care providers to improve outcomes of drug therapy through focused education, care planning, and monitoring. Intervention outcomes were the number of DRPs prevented or resolved, and the impact on QoL. The Short Form-36 health survey was used to measure changes in QoL.

Results: The mean age of patients was 66 ± 5 years, 21 of whom had low literacy. During the study, 92 DRP were identified, 3.0 ± 1.5 problems per patient. By the end of the study, the interventions solved 69% of actual DRP and prevented 78.5% potential DRP. In addition, QoL showed improvement in 22 patients after DRP resolution or prevention.

Conclusion: Despite the limitations in this study that may affect generalizability of the results, this study demonstrates that humanistic and behavioral interventions based on the Pharmaceutical Care model were capable in reducing DRPs, and improve QoL in patients.

Keywords: elderly, pharmaceutical care, quality of life