Drug Therapy Problems

Drug therapy, is a process used to treat disease. In this process drugs interact with receptors or enzymes in cells to promote healthy functioning and reduce or cure illness. It is also known as pharmacotherapy. Drugs interact with receptors or enzymes in cells to promote healthy functioning and reduce or cure illness. Pharmacotherapy is the treatment of disease through the administration of drugs. As such, it is considered part of the larger category of therapy. Pharmacists are experts in pharmacotherapy and are responsible for ensuring the safe, appropriate, and economical use of medicines. The skills required to function as a pharmacist require knowledge, training and experience in biomedical, pharmaceutical and clinical sciences. As pharmacotherapy specialists, pharmacists have responsibility for direct patient care, often functioning as a member of a multidisciplinary team, and acting as the primary source of drug-related information for other healthcare professionals.

There are seven distinct categories of drug therapy problems.

• How the practitioner describes the drug therapy problem influences the selection of interventions to resolve the problem.
• A correctly stated drug therapy problem includes (a) a description of the patient's condition or problem, (b) the drug therapy involved, and (c) the specific association between the drug therapy and the patient's condition.
• Drug therapy problems should be assessed for their severity, acuteness, and significance to the patient to determine how quickly the resolution of the problem must occur.
• When multiple drug therapy problems exist, prioritize them and begin with the problem that is most important to the patient and/or is critical to the health of the patient.

Drug therapy problems are the clinical domain of the pharmaceutical care practitioner. The purpose of identifying drug therapy problems is to help patients achieve their goals of therapy and realize the best possible outcomes from drug therapy. In the following sections, we will discuss the terminology, components, and categories of drug therapy problems and their central importance to the practice of pharmaceutical care and medication management services.

The identification of drug therapy problems is the focus of the assessment and represents the key decisions made in that step of the patient care process. Although drug therapy problem identification is technically part of the assessment process, it represents the truly unique contribution made by pharmaceutical care practitioners. Therefore, a separate discussion has been devoted to describing drug therapy problems so that you can learn to identify, resolve, and most importantly, prevent drug therapy problems in your practice.

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With kind regards,

Nancy Ella

Editorial Manager

Journal of Pharmaceutical Care & Health Systems