Therapeutic duplication, Inappropriate dosing, Drug-Drug interactions, Drug-disease interaction; Do these narratives sound familiar in your practice? As a prescriber are you confident that medication that you prescribe is taken as per your instructions? Are you worried that adverse effects, cost concerns or inadequate patient understanding of a complex regimen are standing in the way of good clinical outcomes? Medication therapy management is the solution to the above adverse outcomes. KUTRRH [ Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital ] has Medical Therapy Specialists who help in countering these complications by providing necessary medical measures to the patients.
KUTRRH has a range of services provided to individual patients to optimize therapeutic outcomes (helping patients get the most benefit from their medications) and detect and prevent costly medication problems. It focuses on ongoing management of the patient’s entire medication regimen with an emphasis on optimizing therapeutic effectiveness, preventing adverse events and achieving optimal medication therapy goals. Active involvement of patients is critical, empowering one to be a full participant in their own care through better understanding and use of their medications. MTM provided by pharmacists/ medication therapy experts, results in:
- A review of all medications prescribed providing care to the patient, and any over the counter and herbal products the patient may be taking to identify and address medication problems. Some of these problems may include medications not being used correctly, duplication of medications, unnecessary medications, and the need for medication(s) for an untreated or inappropriately managed condition.
- In-depth, medication-related education, consultation, and advice provided to patients, family and/or caregivers to help assure proper use of medications.
- Collaboration with the patient, physician, and other health care providers to develop and achieve optimal goals of medication therapy.
The following are positive impacts of MTM to a patient:
- MTM encourages patients to be active participants in their health care, empowering them to be more knowledgeable about and responsible for their health and medication use. MTM services facilitate a more effective partnership among patients, their pharmacists, physicians and other health care providers to achieve optimum medication therapy results.
- MTM contributes to the safe, appropriate, and effective use of medications and offers value by:
- Improving the quality of patient care and outcomes
- Reducing health care expenditure
- Reducing medication-related adverse events
By Boniface Murimi