Pharmacist Intervention Models in Drug-Drug Interaction Management in Prescribed Pharmacotherapy

Drug-drug interactions (DDIs) are one of the most common problems related to drug administration which represent a risk for patient safety. Considering their position in the healthcare system, pharmacists should be more proactively involved in DDI management. The paper shows representation of DDI intervention models in each DDI category. This research enrolled outpatients prescribed pharmacotherapies from 40 randomly selected community pharmacies. DDIs were analyzed using Lexicomp^® Lexi-InteractTM Online (Lexi-Comp, Inc., Hudson, NY, USA) software. Clinical pharmacists' panel, according to the necessary interventions, determined an independent model of pharmacist interventions (category 1) and models that require cooperation with physicians (category 2) for DDI management. In total, 4107 patients were enrolled in the study. Mean patient age was 67.5; they were mostly women (56.5%) and had on average of 3.4 diagnosis and 5.5 prescription drugs. Overall, 14,175 potential clinically significant DDIs were identified: 83.3% of C, 15.4% of D, and 1.3% of X category. At least one potential DDI was found in 78.6% of patients. Models of pharmacist DDI interventions in collaboration with a physician (category 2) were more prevalent than independent models (category 1): 57.5% vs. 42.5% in C category DDIs, 97.8% vs. 2.2% in D category, and 100% vs. 0% in category X DDIs. This research aimed to gain an insight into the distribution of interventions in DDI management models between physicians and pharmacists, which can contribute to more efficient pharmaceutical care and visibility.