Use of point-of-service health status assessments by community pharmaciststo identify and resolve drug-related problems in patients with musculoskeletal disorders

Study Objective. To determine whether community pharmacists can use point-o f-service health status assessments to identify and resolve drug-related pr oblems (DRPs) in ambulatory patients with selected musculoskeletal (MSK) di sorders. Design. Twelve-month, prospective, multicenter demonstration project. Setting. Twelve independent community pharmacies in eastern Iowa. Patients. Ambulatory patients with self-reported diagnosis of osteoarthriti s, rheumatoid arthritis, or low back pain. Measurements. During quarterly pharmacy visits for I year, patients used to uch-screen computers to report their health status. Patients answered quest ions on the Short Form-36 (SF-36) general health survey, as well as questio ns assessing limitations associated with their MSK condition. Pharmacists u sed this data in interviewing patients to assess for DRPs. Main Results. The study enrolled 461 patients, of whom 388 returned for the 12-month visit. During this 1-year period, community pharmacists identifie d 926 cumulative DRPs. Patients with no DRPs had significantly higher physi cal component summary scores on the SF-36 (p <0.05) than patients with more than one DRP at baseline (36.2 vs 31.6), 6 months (39.2 vs 33.3), and 12 m onths (40.1 vs 35.4). At 12 months, actions performed by pharmacists led to resolution or improvement of 70.7% of DRPs. Conclusion. Drug-related problems are numerous in community-dwelling patien ts with MSK disorders and correspond to decreased physical health status. C ommunity pharmacists can use patient-reported measures of health status to identify DRPs and initiate processes to resolve them.