Patient characterization as a useful tool for offering personalized professional services in the community pharmacy

Introduction: The immediate future of the pharmacy requires the incorporation of professional services aimed to optimizing personalized patient management.

Aims of the study: To determine the characteristics of patients registered in the database of a community pharmacy in order to detect their health needs, from these, establish guidelines most appropriate and effective intervention.

Material and methods: A questionnaire adapted to the field of community pharmacy was designed to facilitate the storage and processing of data of patients / users, who were registered in the pharmacy database, through personal interviews.

Results: Pluripatological (80.5%) and polypharmacy patients (72.2%), older (70.6 ± 9.8 years) with low educational level (86.1%) predominate in the study. Dyslipidemia (63.9%), hypertension (61.1%), arthritis (56.6%), peripheral vascular disease (38.9%) and diabetes II (30.6%) were the most prevalent diseases. Although 69.4% performed physical exercise regularly, almost 82% were overweight and do not perform adequate diets. The most consumed drug was omeprazole (97.0%), followed by acetaminophen (50.0%), statins (47.2%), benzodiazepines, hydrochlorothiazide and metformin.

Conclusion: The patients’characterization through structured and agreed questionnaires can help the pharmacist to locate the most vulnerable groups of the population studied in order to provide professional services adapted to their needs and develop prevention programs and more efficient protocols of action.