Community pharmacist intervention in patients with renal impairment

Background In France, community pharmacists do not have free access to patients’ lab results, and it is therefore impossible for them to identify patients with renal impairment. Objective (1) to evaluate the ability of community pharmacists (CPs) to identify drug related problems (DRP) in patients at risk for or suffering from renal impairment; (2) to evaluate the proportions of recommendations by CPs that lead to a modification by GP. Setting A prospective and observational study involving 24 community pharmacists in France. Methods Following special training, community pharmacists were asked to select 52 patients with the following characteristics: ≥65 years of age; prescribed at least two diabetic and/or antihypertensive drugs. Serum creatinine value was obtained for each patient and glomerular filtration rate estimated (eGFR) with the aMDRD formula. Those with a eGFR 60 ml/min/1.73 m² were considered having chronic kidney disease (CKD). Data was collected concerning whether the community pharmacists identified drug related problems and tried to inform the GP who prescribed the medications. Identified DRP were reviewed by a team of nephrologists and hospital clinical pharmacists. Primary outcome The proportion of CKD patients and those without serum creatinine monitoring, the number of drug related problems identified by community pharmacists, and the proportion of drug related problems resolved by the community pharmacists intervention to the GP. Results Of the total 791 patients identified, 180 (22.8 %) exhibited CKD, and 57 (7.2 %) had not undergone serum creatinine monitoring. Among the 1297 drugs prescribed, 260 had to be adapted to eGFR. The proportion of DRP was 21.5 % (56/260), of which 40 % (20) were identified by community pharmacists. Once the GP was informed, 33.3 % (6/18) of DRP were resolved. Conclusion Community pharmacists identified 40 % of DRP related to CKD prescriptions, leading to prescription modification by GPs in a third of the cases. These interventions are likely to decrease drug-related morbidity and mortality.