Nöropatik Ağrı Tedavisinde İlaç Kullanımının Klinik Eczacı Tarafından İncelenmesi

Abstract

Neuropathic pain is a chronic problem which requires multidisciplinary approaches for its management. Patients’ adherence to and satisfaction with drug therapies affect the success of pain management which can be improved by patient education. Therefore, aim of this study was to evaluate patients’ neuropathic pain history and to identify patients’ satisfaction on provision of drug information by a clinical pharmacist in an outpatient clinic. The study was conducted in the Hacettepe University Hospitals, Outpatient Pain Unit during March-May 2017. The patients with neuropathic pain who are taking amitriptylline, gabapentin, pregabalin or doluxetine treatment were included and informed verbally about drug use and drug’s side effects by a clinical pharmacist. Patients’ satisfaction was assessed by four questions (general satisfaction, pharmacist’s feedbacks to their questions, comprehensibleness of information, type and content of information) on 5-point Likert scale after a month via telephone contact. A total of ninety patients were included, informed and followed during the study. The median (25th - 75th) duration of provision of information was 8.5 (7-10) minutes. Ninety-eight percent of patients emphasized that they would like to have information from a pharmacist continuously at the outpatient clinic. In regards to patients’ satisfaction (n=90) which was assessed by four questions, ≥95% of participants rated ‘very satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’ and 90% indicated to have such service at community pharmacy as well. The patients were satisfied with the provision of drug information by a pharmacist beyond the routine clinic practice. Given the fact that, rational drug use is essential for the success of treatment in neuropathic pain, it is important to have such information service provided by a pharmacist regularly at the pain clinic where multidisciplinary collaboration encourages patients’ adherence and maintain effective pain control.