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

Study Objective. To determine whether community pharmacists can use point-of-service health status assessments to identify and resolve drug-related problems (DRPs) in ambulatory patients with selected musculoskeletal (MSK) disorders. Design. Twelve-month, prospective, multicenter demonstration project. Setting. Twelve independent community pharmacies in eastern Iowa. Patients. Ambulatory patients with self-reported diagnosis of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, or low back pain. Measurements. During quarterly pharmacy visits for I year, patients used touch-screen computers to report their health status. Patients answered questions on the Short Form-36 (SF-36) general health survey, as well as questions assessing limitations associated with their MSK condition. Pharmacists used 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 identified 926 cumulative DRPs. Patients with no DRPs had significantly higher physical 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 months (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 patients with MSK disorders and correspond to decreased physical health status. Community pharmacists can use patient-reported measures of health status to identify DRPs and initiate processes to resolve them.