Robert T Pammett1,2, David Blackburn3, Jeff Taylor3, Kerry Mansell3, Debbie Kwan4, Christine Papoushek4, Derek Jorgenson3. 1. Northern Health, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. 2. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 3. College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. 4. University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine if a short screening questionnaire can identify patients at risk for drug therapy problems (DTPs) in a community pharmacy setting. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Three community pharmacies in Saskatoon, Canada. PATIENTS: Forty-nine adults who were picking up a refill prescription for a medication that had remained stable over the past 6 months (i.e., no changes to drug, dose, or regimen) during 4 consecutive weeks at each of the three pharmacies between November 2013 and February 2014. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All patients completed a self-administered screening questionnaire and underwent a blinded comprehensive medication assessment with a clinical pharmacist. Agreement between the screening questionnaire responses and responses based on information from the medication assessment were assessed with Cohen's κ coefficient. The DTPs identified during the medication assessments were categorized in one of the eight standard DTP categories: unnecessary drug therapy, inappropriate drug, subtherapeutic dose, supratherapeutic dose, drug therapy required, adverse drug reaction, noncompliance, and other or unsure. The DTPs were also assigned a severity-mild, moderate, or severe-using adapted Schneider criteria. The number and severity of DTPs identified were compared among patients categorized as high versus low risk for DTPs as determined by the questionnaire responses. Of the 49 patients who completed the study, 18 (37%) were high risk and 31 (63%) low risk. The agreement between risk categorization based on the screening questionnaire and medication assessment was very good (κ = 0.91, p<0.01). Also, patients identified as high risk on the screening questionnaire had a mean of 3.7 (p<0.01) more DTPs than low-risk patients. Seventeen (94%) of the 18 high-risk patients had at least one moderate or severe DTP compared with 15 (48%) of the 31 low-risk patients. CONCLUSION: The screening questionnaire was a reliable method for identifying patients in community pharmacies who have a large number of DTPs.
STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine if a short screening questionnaire can identify patients at risk for drug therapy problems (DTPs) in a community pharmacy setting. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire. SETTING: Three community pharmacies in Saskatoon, Canada. PATIENTS: Forty-nine adults who were picking up a refill prescription for a medication that had remained stable over the past 6 months (i.e., no changes to drug, dose, or regimen) during 4 consecutive weeks at each of the three pharmacies between November 2013 and February 2014. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All patients completed a self-administered screening questionnaire and underwent a blinded comprehensive medication assessment with a clinical pharmacist. Agreement between the screening questionnaire responses and responses based on information from the medication assessment were assessed with Cohen's κ coefficient. The DTPs identified during the medication assessments were categorized in one of the eight standard DTP categories: unnecessary drug therapy, inappropriate drug, subtherapeutic dose, supratherapeutic dose, drug therapy required, adverse drug reaction, noncompliance, and other or unsure. The DTPs were also assigned a severity-mild, moderate, or severe-using adapted Schneider criteria. The number and severity of DTPs identified were compared among patients categorized as high versus low risk for DTPs as determined by the questionnaire responses. Of the 49 patients who completed the study, 18 (37%) were high risk and 31 (63%) low risk. The agreement between risk categorization based on the screening questionnaire and medication assessment was very good (κ = 0.91, p<0.01). Also, patients identified as high risk on the screening questionnaire had a mean of 3.7 (p<0.01) more DTPs than low-risk patients. Seventeen (94%) of the 18 high-risk patients had at least one moderate or severe DTP compared with 15 (48%) of the 31 low-risk patients. CONCLUSION: The screening questionnaire was a reliable method for identifying patients in community pharmacies who have a large number of DTPs.