Pharmacist's management of drug-related problems: a tool for teaching and providing pharmaceutical care

During the development of education and practice models based on the philosophy of pharmaceutical care (PC), six pharmacists worked with the University of Toronto Faculty of Pharmacy to implement the PC model in their practice sites. These pharmacists found it necessary to modify existing tools to create one that explicitly guided them through the PC process, including the phase of monitoring patients for desired outcomes. This resulted in the development of the Pharmacist's Management of Drug Related Problems. This tool requires pharmacists to collect patient drug and medical data and write responses to specific questions about the data to interpret their significance. As proficiency in providing PC is attained, the questions and space for written responses can be eliminated, leaving a comprehensive documentation system of patient outcomes and the data collected, recommendations made, and monitoring completed by the pharmacist. This tool has been adopted by the University of Toronto Faculty of Pharmacy and is being used in various continuing education programs and by practicing pharmacists across Canada.