Design and Pilot of a Medication Review Clinic in a Dialysis Centre

Objectives: The aim of this pilot study was to establish a Medication Review Clinic and undertake a preliminary evaluation of the benefits of providing this service to dialysis patients. Method: The Medication Review Clinic was piloted at the In‐Centre Dialysis Unit at Middlemore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand, from April to October 2002. A clinical pharmacist conducted the medication reviews, identified drug‐related problems, provided medication education to the patients, updated medication profiles and liaised with primary care providers. A patient satisfaction survey was performed at the end of the study. Results: Ninety‐one medication reviews were conducted for 51 patients. Drug‐related problems were identified in 83% of the reviews. One hundred and thirty‐one drug‐related problems were identified by the pharmacist and accepted by the physician. Discrepancies were found between the medications that patients were taking and medications recorded in the In‐Centre Dialysis Unit and 53 adjustments of the medication records were made. The patient satisfaction survey showed that 89% of patients found the information provided by the pharmacist ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’ and 81% expressed a desire to talk to the pharmacist about their medications in future. Conclusion: The Medication Review Clinic provided regular, structured medication reviews. Actual and potential drugrelated problems were identified and clear and consistent information was provided to both patients and health professionals. According to the patient satisfaction survey, the Medication Review Clinic increased patient awareness of preventable drug‐related morbidity and helped improve the standards of medication use in dialysis patients (this will need to be confirmed). Future research will investigate the effect on the patient's quality of life and the number of drugrelated hospital admissions.