ROLE OF CLINICAL PHARMACIST IN MANAGEMENT OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER (STROKE)

Objectives: To assess the nature and incidence of Drug Related Problems and to improve patient's adherence towards medication. Methods: A prospective observational study was carried out for a period of 6 months in both ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients with age group between 18 – 90 years. Patient demographic and other data's were collected using data collection form and moriskey medication adherence scale 8 (MMAS 8) was used to measure patient medication adherence. All data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and statistical significance for our study was analyzed by chi-square test. Key findings: In our study population (n=100) 75% were ischemic stroke and 25% were hemorrhagic stroke in that 76% were males and 24% were females. From the eight classes of DRPs a total of 146 DRPs were identified in 84 patients. Among this mostly observed drug related problem was drug interactions (44.5%) followed by drug use without indication (43.15%), improper drug selection (3.42%), untreated indication (3.42%), adverse drug reactions (2.73%), medication error (2.05%) and over dosage (0.68%). The finding shows most of the patients had medium medication adherence (76%) followed by poor adherence (15%) and high adherence (9%). A statistically significant relationship was found between DRP and type of stroke (p = 0.016) and medication adherence with type of stroke (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Clinical pharmacists can contribute improved patient outcomes by monitoring the drug therapy and can also promote rational use of drugs. The pharmacists could offer effective patient care by means of their intervention in pharmaceutical care and hence improved therapeutic outcome could be reached. Keywords: Clinical pharmacist; stroke; Moriskey medication adherence scale; drug related problems