Table 2. Drug-related problems, medication appropriateness and hospital readmissions for patients with noncommunicable diseases, a non-randomized controlled trial on ward-based pharmacist, Sri Lanka, 2013–2014.
| Outcome | Control group (354 patients) | Intervention group (361 patients) | P |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. of drug-related problems | 1217 | 1027 | 0.25 |
| No. of resolved drug-related problems (%) | 161 (13.2) | 592 (57.6) | < 0.001 |
| MAI at dischargea | |||
| Mean score per patient (SD) | 4.3 (6.5) | 1.3 (2.9) | < 0.001 |
| Mean score per medication | 0.7 (2.7) | 0.2 (1.2) | < 0.001 |
| No. of patients with appropriate medicines at discharge,b (%) | 105 (29.7) | 202 (56.0) | < 0.001 |
| Drug-related hospital readmissions | |||
| No. of patients reached and interviewedc | 311 | 334 | |
| No. of drug-related hospital readmissions (%) | 93 (29.9) | 44 (13.2) | < 0.001 |
| No. of readmissions due to non-compliance to medicines (%) | 49 (52.7) | 15 (34.1) | 0.03 |
| No. of readmissions due to non-reconciliation of medications (%) | 17 (18.3) | 1 (2.3) | < 0.001 |
CI: confidence interval; MAI: medication appropriateness index; SD: standard deviation.
a MAI scores range from 0–18 with lowest scores most appropriate.19
b We categorized those patients with a score of zero for all their medications as receiving appropriate medications.
c After hospital discharge, the assessment pharmacist interviewed all subjects monthly, for a period of six months, to identify any drug-related hospital readmissions.