Table 3 Overview of Medication Related Problems (MRP) according to frequency and types

Indication

Needs additional drug therapy

Patient is asthmatic, but is not getting the recommended drug i.e. salbutamol puff PRN

Unnecessary drug therapy

Patient is on ceftriaxone 1 g IV BID but there is no indication of infection in the diagnosis

Effectivenes

Dosage too low

Cephalexin 500 mg once PO daily given to patient to treat infection, PO BID daily is recommended

Ineffective drug product

HIV/AIDS (immunocompromised) and MRSA infected patient who was on wound care was on metronidazole and cephalexin treatment (less effective), instead patient was put on more effective drug, vancomycin 500 mg IV BID for 10 days

Safety

Dosage too high

Patient is on ceftriaxone 2 g IV bid to treat chorioamnionitis which is high dose, 1 g IV BID is enough

Adverse drug reaction

Patient received furosemide and gentamicin concurrently. One increases toxicity of the other by pharmacodynamic synergism; alternative drug chlorothiazide was used in place of furosemide

Compliance

Non-compliance

Anti-D immunoglobulin is available in the hospital, but the patient couldn’t afford and was not injected

Other categories

Need for an additional laboratory test

Patient haematocrit value is not registered to recommend or not iron supplementation or treatment

Incomplete drug order

Patient is prescribed with methyldopa 250 mg (mild pre-eclampsia), but duration was not indicated

Total MRPs