Identifying Drug Therapy Problems Through Patient Consultation at Community Pharmacies: A Quality Improvement Project

This study aimed to identify drug therapy problems during patient counseling at prescription pickup in the community pharmacy setting.

This descriptive quality improvement project assessed the number of drug therapy problems identified during patient consultation. Data were collected for 2 months at 6 community pharmacies in Arizona. The criterion for inclusion was any patient new or transferred prescription consultation provided by a pharmacist or pharmacy intern. Three doctor of pharmacy candidates collected data on a standardized form. The percentage and type of drug therapy problems identified during patient consultation were calculated.

Data collectors counseled patients on 1305 prescriptions, and of those, 29 drug therapy problems (2.2%) were identified after the pharmacists' final check. The most common problems involved patient drug allergy or sensitivity (20.7%).

This project suggests that drug therapy problems in a community pharmacy setting can be identified via patient counseling at the time of prescription pickup.