ABSTRACT
Background: Among the interventions Clinical Pharmacists perform is identifying and resolving drug therapy problems (DTPs), a skill foe which pharmacists are specially trained. The impact of pharmacists on patient health care, a skill for which pharmacists are specifically trained. Many pharmacists regularly document and report drug therapy problems identified and resolved in practice as a means to assess the quality of care rendered. Objective: To evaluate the documentation practice of drug therapy problems by hospital pharmacists. Method: This was a cross-sectional qualitative study carried out in different pharmacy units at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), among 15 registered pharmacists. The primary data collection instrument for this study was a semi-structured interview questionnaire. In-depth interviews were conducted and recorded. The data were interpreted within a deductive thematic analysis framework and analysed using a directed content analysis approach. Results: A total of 15 respondents who are all registered pharmacists participated in the study of which 4 (26.67%) were males and 11(73.33%) were females. More than half of the pharmacists (60%) believed that clinical interventions are very important and are beneficial to patients. Based on the types and frequency of DTPs encountered by the clinical pharmacists, 4(26.67%) stated Drug-drug interaction, 3 (20%) stated Adverse drug reaction, 5 (33.33%) stated Dose related DTPs such as Dosage too high and Dosage too low, 2 (13.33%) stated Wrong drug, while 1 (6.67%) stated Poly pharmacy as their most encountered DTPs. In the category of peculiar challenges to documenting clinical interventions, Work overload (53%), Lack of enough manpower (46.67%), and Forgetfulness (40%) were some of the most frequently occurring responses. In the category of measures to encourage documentation, 10 (66.67%) of the respondents declared Recruitment of staff as a major measure. Nine (60%) of the respondents also stated Training of staff as a measure. Conclusion: The documentation practice of DTPs despite being successful have limitations due to the diverse challenges faced by the hospital pharmacists in documentation, which are mostly centred around work pressure and time constraints. The recommendations made to alleviate these challenges include recruitment of adequate staff, standardized documentation protocols, interprofessional collaboration, continuous education and training, utilization of clinical decision support systems, quality improvement initiatives, research and evaluation. Keywords: Drug therapy problems, Documentation, Hospital pharmacists, Clinical interventions.
