Assessment of Medicine Information Provided on Demand by Clinical Pharmacists in Nephrology Wards in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Background: Clinical Pharmacy is an emerging field in India. As it is a new area, clinical pharmacists need to prove the importance of clinical pharmacy services. Provision of medicine information is one of the important clinical pharmacy services provided by the clinical pharmacists. Aims: To assess the medicine information given on demand by clinical pharmacists in nephrology wards. Materials and methods: Assessment of medicine information provided on demand for 4 months by clinical pharmacists was assessed. Results: The clinical pharmacists were asked 76 times to provide the medicine information during the study period. Out of 76, 53 (69.73%) queries were demanded by nephrologists, 20 (26.31%) by medical post graduates (PGs) and 3 (4.10%) by nursing staff. 39 (51.31%) queries were asked for the better patient care, 21 (27.63%) to update the knowledge and 16 (21.05%) were solicited to educate the patient. The results about time taken to answer the query, question category and reference consulted are given in detail in the context. Conclusion: It proves that clinical pharmacists including PharmD candidates can work well in the clinical set-up and can be considered as an emerging field in India. KeywordsClinical Pharmacy; Clinical Pharmacist, PharmD, India, Medicine information, drug information, nephrology, pharmacy practice Accepted: 21/05/2013 Submitted: 13/02/2013 Address for Correspondence: Prasanna R. Deshpande, Dept. of Pharmacy Practice, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal University, Manipal, India. E-mail: [email protected] Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice Volume 6 Issue 2 Apr Jun, 2013 25