A Prospective Observational Study on Need of Clinical Pharmacist in Preventing Drug-Drug Interactions in Geriatrics at a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Abstract

In geriatrics, advanced aged, and various have been recognized as threat factors for happening of drug-drug interactions. Critical evaluation of prescriptions of each elderly patient by clinical pharmacists could out-turn in and deduction of such drug-drug interactions. The aim of the study was to assess the need of clinical pharmacist in preventing drug-drug interactions in geriatric patients. A prospective observational study was carried out among geriatric patients aged 65 years and above. The data was collected using prepared case collection forms and was examined to explore the medical condition, hospital stay, , and drug effects through patient . Out of 120 patients, 76 were male and 44 were female. Major part of them were from age 65-74 years. commonly found was hypertension (27.3%) and diabetes (15.8%), number of drugs per prescription were 5-10 in 70% of patients, number of drug-drug interactions per patient was found to be 1-2 in majority (35.8%). Drug interactions based on severity range were high in moderate (51.8%). Mainly interactions (57.2%) were seen. Medication adherence scale findings revealed that 60.8% was in moderate range (3-4). Commonly occurring identified are and Aspirin, Aspirin and . It concludes that Clinical Pharmacist take part in minimizing the risk of drug-drug interactions in geriatric patients by identifying, preventing and optimizing drug therapies via findings from drug interaction alert software, also assisting the health care professionals about drug related information and patient is an important aspect of clinical pharmacist.