incidence of drug related problems in outpatient setting: a review article

Detection and resolution of drug related problems (drps) are one of the most important parts of pharmaceutical care. as many as 4.6% of deaths in the united states may be the result of a drps, making drp one of the top 5 leading causes of death. according to the high prevalence of drps in an outpatient setting, lack of information about this setting rather than inpatient setting and the importance of detection and resolution of them, reviewing the articles in this regard is necessary. in this review article, pubmed, scopus, and google scholar databases were used for finding the relevant studies about the prevalence of drps in an outpatient setting and ambulatory care services. in the past 20 years the incidence of drug-related drug problems in the ambulatory care unit has increased and it’s more important in the elderly patient due to pharmacokinetic changes and polypharmacy. patients with cardiovascular diseases or diabetes mellitus and patients who require chronic pain management are important target groups for drp screening. the lack of medication counseling in ambulatory care and in pharmacy settings are an important cause of drps in an outpatient setting. according the knowledge about physiology, pharmacology and toxicology, pharmacokinetics and pharmacotherapy, the most qualified health care provider for detection and management of drps in the outpatient setting is pharmacist quality improvement programs in the base of pharmaceutical care, such as medication therapy management service should target drps, especially for patient groups using cardiovascular drugs, analgesics, hypoglycemic agent’s and anti-seizure agents.