Management of Drug-Related Problems Under the Program for Reducing Overcrowding in Hospitals by Picking Up Medicines from Drugstores

Abstract

Objectives: To study management of drug related problem under the program for reducing overcrowding in hospitals by picking up medicines from drugstores and to assess patient’s satisfaction toward the program. Methods: Subjects were 46 outpatients with chronic disease needing regular care of Sunpasitthiprasong hospital and Warinchamrap hospital who picked up their medicines from 10 participating drugstores during January 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021. The study assessed satisfaction of participants in the project in 4 aspects, namely, provider characteristics, received service, location and service times using telephone interview. Blood pressure and blood sugar were retrieved from the computer program for recording data from patient examination at drugstores. Medication errors and drug related problems on 1,660 prescriptions were collected from pharmacist records of 3 participating pharmacies recorded in computer programs. Results: Seventy-five percent of the patients had blood pressure under control and 51.72 percent had blood sugar under control. Most common drug related problem was noncompliance (6.99% of prescriptions). Patients’ satisfaction was at a very high level in all aspects. The highest satisfaction scores were in provider characteristics (3.91±0.28 from the full score of 4) and service time (3.91±0.35). Conclusions: Pharmacists can help maintain good clinical outcomes among patients in the program and solve drug related problems. The patients were very satisfied with provider characteristics, received service, location and time spent on medication picking.