Evaluation of Rationality in Pharmacotherapy of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a clinical syndrome characterized by chronic hyperglycemia & disturbances in carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism. The disease may result from defects in insulin secretion, insulin action or both. Data of 6 patient’s histories were collected from different ward on sheet containing the following information i.e. patient demographics data, family history, laboratory data and diagnosis, treatment at hospital and discharge medications. Important parameters of data were analyzed as follows: significant findings of medication history, rationality & outcomes of pharmacotherapy provided in the hospital, identification & management of drug related problems,  drug information and therapeutic consultation provided in the hospital. Out of total 6 patients, 4 were males and 2 were females. According to age wise distribution, disease is more prevalent in patients of age 61-70 years. Outs of total 6, 5 patients were type 2 diabetic while 1 was  type 1 Diabetes Mellitus patients.  Co-morbid illnesses were hypertension, congestive heart failure & chronic kidney disease. Significant findings of medication history show proper response in most of the patients. After the analysis it was observed that prescriptions have potential drug interactions. In the data of 6 Diabetic patients, with reference to Drugs.com,  Medscape & WebMD all the identified interactions were moderate. It was also observed that few of the patients are non-compliant with drug therapy, due to lack of guidance and counseling, as physicians having a greater workload and don’t guide patients properly. Lab tests such as FBS, RBS, HbA1C, OGTT, complete blood picture, liver function tests, renal function tests and serum electrolytes were used for the assessment of outcome of therapy. From this study it is quite clear that clinical pharmacists can play a vital role in optimizing the therapy. Hence there is a need of clinical pharmacist in hospital setting in order to rationalize the therapy