Contribution of Pharmacy Practice Residents to Resolution of Drug Therapy Problems for Patients: RES-DTP Study

Canadian pharmacy practice residency programs promote development of key competencies for direct patient care resulting in resolution of drug therapy problems (DTPs), which is 1 of 8 national clinical pharmacy key performance indicators. There are no Canadian data on the contribution of residents to resolution of DTPs, including DTPs for priority diseases covered in disease-state education modules (PD-DTPs) or quality indicator DTPs (QI-DPTs), as assessed through application of evidence-based interventions proven to reduce morbidity, mortality, or health resource utilization.

To describe the contribution of pharmacy practice residents to direct patient care using 3 process-of-care measures: resident-resolved DTPs, PD-DTPs, and QI-DTPs.

This prospective, observational single-group study was conducted across 5 rotation sites within the authors' health authority from September 2, 2013, to June 13, 2014. The primary outcome was number of DTPs resolved. The secondary outcomes were number of PD-DTPs resolved; number of QI-DTPs resolved; numbers of DTPs, PD-DTPs, and QI-DTPs resolved over time; and residents' satisfaction with electronic tracking of resolved DTPs (in terms of training, usability, efficiency, and time requirements).

Four residents completed a total of twenty-one 4-week rotations and resolved a total of 1201 DTPs. Of these, 620 (52%) were PD-DTPs and 479 (40%) were QI-DTPs. Overall, the number of interventions increased for rotations 1-3, decreased for rotations 4 and 5, and increased again for rotation 6. The median score for all questions in all domains of the satisfaction survey was 4 out of 5 ("agree").

Pharmacy practice residents were resolving DTPs, PD-DTPs, and QI-DTPs for patients and were contributing significantly to direct patient care. On the basis of literature evidence, the number and type of interventions observed in this study would be expected to improve clinical and health economic outcomes for patients.