Main Article Content
Abstract
A drug interaction is defined as the pharmalogical activity of one drug is altered by the concomitant use of another drug or by the presence of some other substance. These may result in the alteration of therapeutic effect and safety of either or both drugs.The main objective of this study to evaluate drug interactions in general medicine by a clinical pharmacist. Drug therapy becomes more complex with polypharmacy. Such prescriptions need to be evaluated thoroughly in order to avoid any chance of drug related problems (DRP’S).
Methodology
A prospective observational study using patient medical records and the necessary data were collected by using data collection forms and results were evaluated against the criteria prepared from the standard treatment guidelines.
Results
Prescription of 219 patients were studied and analysed. The demographic data revealed that there are 113(52%) male patients and 106(48%) female patients respectively.Majority of patients in the age group of 50 -59 years males (n=33) 29% and females (n=35) 30.5% were found.
Conclusion
In conclusion, our study was conducted to assess the DDIs in hospitalized patients of general medicine department of tertiary care hospital. The study concluded that DDIs are more prevalent in patients suffering from co-morbidities due to poly pharmacy. The frequency of DI would have been less with more judicial use of drugs. This study has been impacted the need for future studies to be conducted in order to improve the prescriber awareness on DDIs and their management in improving the clinical outcome. Potential DIs is frequent among in-patients prescribed with multiple medications. Regular monitoring of drug interactions helps in better patient care.