The review articles about the investigation of medication problem in community: The important concepts and application

Abstract

Introduction: There have been  medication problems in communities in Thailand for a  long time.  Continuously,  problem-solving  activities  have been  implemented.  However,  there  is  too  little success now. The objectives of this article were review articles about the investigation of medication problems in community in topic of methods and results. It was expected that this could assist readers get more understanding about the methodology and could apply it to their work. Methods: Use WHO guideline, Thai guideline and previous studies. Results: The World Health Organization proposed the process  to  investigate  medicines  use  in  communities which  consisted  of  7  steps  as  follows:  (1)describe  drug  use  and  identify  problems  (2)  prioritize  problems  (3)  analyze  problems  and  identify solutions (4) select and develop intervention (5) pretest intervention (6) implement intervention and (7)monitor  and  evaluate  intervention.  For  Thai  guideline,  the  processes  are  similar.  However,  it  was added the preparation phase of researchers and emphasized the importance of economic and social factors in the context of community in addition to health factors. It also proposed the 7 tools that help working  in  community  easier.  The  research  examples illustrated  the  medication  problemsin community and the method to solve problems in real situation. It was found that the researches which success  in  solving  medication  problemsin  community covered  all  processes  suggested  by  the guideline.  The  investigation  of  medication  problemsis  just  a  starting  point  of  the  problem-solving process. Conclusion: The  operations  which  work  systematic  and  systematically,  participated  from stakeholders,  and  consider  the  context  of  community could  bring  to  the  successful,  help  working people to understand their community and work happily.