Pharmacist-Physician Organic Cooperation is an effective strategy to reduce the Medication Related Problems (MRPs): An experience in Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) patients

Background: As almost all patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) having the criteria of polypharmacy with a complex protocol. It has been evidenced that CKD patients averagely take 10 medications concurrently. Also, several physicians are involved in the patients’ care independently. Hence, the risk of Medication/Drug-Related Problems (MRPs) increases. Regarding abovementioned explanations, it is necessary to detect and solve MRPs effectively. Among studied strategies, pharmacist-led medication therapy management (MTM) services showed some satisfying results. The aim of this study was to evaluate Pharmacist- Physician Organic Cooperation to managing the MRPs in patients with CKD. Methods: Aneducated pharmacist and a nephrologist jointly visited the CKD patients referring to CKD outpatient clinic of Shahid Labbafinejad hospital. This clinic is one of the most known referral nephrology medical centers in Iran. Totally, 100 CKD patients who referred for a routine medical visit participated in this study after signing the informed consent form. The pharmacist reviewed the medications in the first visit and MRPsdetected and classified them according to DOCUMENT system. The pharmacist notified the physician about existing MRPs and discussed to solve or consider them. Results: 64% of patients had not any MRPs, 25% had one MRP, 6% had two MRPs, and 5% had three MRPs in their medication review. The pharmacist and physician came to an agreement regarding MRPs solving in 90.38% of pharmacist recommendation ondetected MRPs. Discussion: The findings of this study suggest that the close cooperation of pharmacist and physician has good efficacy to decrease the MRPs in CKD patients. The main advantages of this method are direct and evidence-based organic cooperation with a physician. This method may enhance physician compliance regarding pharmacist recommendation in comparison with traditional written methods. Although this method is time-consuming, the final outcomes reduce the MRPs and health-related costs. Also, the outcome may be a better and more effective individualized treatment. Promising results of the current study suggest close organic cooperation and consultation of pharmacist with a physician in CKD clinics.

کلیدواژه ها:

Pharmacist ، MRPs ، CKD ،