Clinical interventions by community pharmacists using patient medication records

Abstract

The use of patient medication records (PMRs) in clinical interventions made by community pharmacists has been studied over an 18-month period. Participating pharmacists recorded clinical intervention events by noting the nature of the intervention, the product(s) involved, any at-risk grouping of the patient, and outcome or action taken. In total, 1,862 clinical interventions were reported, of which 1,234 were associated with the use of a PMR system. PMRs were of particular benefit in interventions associated with patients suffering from cardiovascular disease (231 events), asthma (129 events) and diabetes (55 events). Over 50 per cent of the reported events related to the wrong drug, strength or dose being written on a prescription form, frequently due to errors being made in the use of a general practice computer system at the time the prescription form was generated. The study illustrates the important benefits to community pharmacists of keeping patient records which enable the exercise of clinical judgement in the provision of pharmaceutical care. Pharmacists using a computerised PMR system were more likely to intervene than those using a manual card-index system. PMRs were shown to be especially useful in alerting the pharmacist to potential drug interactions between previously-dispensed and newly-prescribed medication.