An educational intervention to improve the ability of community pharmacists in Sri Lanka to detect drug related problems

Abstract

Background: Drug related problems (DRPs) in prescriptions could result in patient harm. Objective: To assess the effectiveness of an educational workshop on detecting DRPs in prescriptions by a cohort of community pharmacists. Methods: Pharmacists working in a large community pharmacy chain in Sri Lanka were invited for an educational workshop on detecting DRPs in prescriptions. Participants were asked to review three mock prescriptions containing hypothetical DRPs before the workshop. After an interactive teaching session, pharmacists were asked to review the same three prescriptions again. Results: All pharmacists who attended the workshop (N=58) participated. The mean score for detecting DRPs per pharmacist at pre-assessment was 5.3±2.1 which increased to 8.5±1.7 at post-assessment (p<0.001). Conclusion: An educational intervention improved the community pharmacists’ ability to detect DRPs related to completeness and legality of prescriptions but failed to make a significant impact on detecting serious pharmacological issues like medicine duplications and interactions.