Drug-related problems identified during pharmacy consultation in outpatient

Background: Drug-related problems (DRPs) might lead to adverse drug events, and medication errors have received extensive attention among the public and health care system worldwide. The purpose of this study was to identify common drug-related problems (DRPs) during pharmacy consultation in outpatient pharmacies by implementing a counseling model. Method: We conducted a prospective study in the outpatient pharmacy of a tertiary academic hospital for 16 months. A counseling model was implemented by a pharmacy team, and data were collected during pharmacy consultation. Data analysis was performed on identified DRPs, causes and their relationships. Problem-level descriptive analysis and network analysis were conducted using R 3.6.3. Result: Pharmacists identified 504 DRPs during pharmacy consultation with primarily adverse drug events (ADEs, 26.98%) and untreated symptoms or indications (16.67%). The most frequent drug classes correlated with DRPs were ‘cardiovascular system’ drugs (13.39%), followed by ‘traditional Chinese medicine’ (12.71%) and ‘alimentary tract and metabolism’ drugs (12.54%). Most DRPs were due to necessary information not provided in dispensing and drug selection. More than 98.25% of advice given by the pharmacist was accepted or taken into consideration, and 97% of patients reported that their medication problems were totally or partially solved. Conclusion: Implementation of the counseling model appears to be a means to improve drug use by serving as an important tool to increase the identification and resolution of DRPs, resulting in positive experiences in both pharmacy practitioners and patients.