Pharmacotherapeutic follow-up in polymedicated elderly
International Journal of Development Research
Pharmacotherapeutic follow-up in polymedicated elderly
Received 09th September, 2022; Received in revised form 25th September, 2022; Accepted 02nd October, 2022; Published online 30th October, 2022
Copyright©2022, Cristiane Bárbara Tranches Bernardes et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
As a result of aging, the elderly become more prone to pathological developments, increasing drug consumption. This increases the possibility of errors related to drugs, such as interactions and adverse reactions. The pharmacotherapeutic follow-up has become indispensable in the care of the polymedicated elderly. This work aims to perform a pharmacotherapeutic follow-up in polymedicated elderly patients, identifying the main drug interactions that occur in this patient, evaluate the possible adverse reactions caused by the drugs used by the patient, analyze the pharmacotherapy, pointing out the main clinical indications of the drugs used and reduce the unnecessary use of drugs, demonstrate the importance of pharmacotherapeutic follow-up for pharmacotherapy of the patient.The present study had a qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, explanatory approach, through a case study, a pharmacotherapeutic follow-up to an elderly polymedicated patient, residing in the city of Monte Belo, South of Minas Gerais. For the pharmacotherapeutic approach and medication reconciliation, the Dáder methodology was applied. We could observe that the patient E.A.B.M. used polypharmacy, where 3 drug-related problems (DRPs) and 3 prevention and resolution of drug-related problems (P/R DRPs) were identified, requiring articulated interventions between the physician, the pharmacist and the patient. It can be observed that the development of the practice of pharmacotherapeutic follow-up is of great importance for a better quality of drug therapy, promoting the rational use of medicines and consequently a better quality of life for elderly patients. However, the collaboration of the physician is of fundamental importance for the performance of the pharmaceutical work, because the integration between these professionals, through the combination of specialized and complementary knowledge, leads to efficient therapeutic results, benefiting the patient.