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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Psychopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1460098
This article is part of the Research Topic Women in Psychiatry 2024: Psychopharmacology View all articles

Prevalence and Solving Strategies of Drug-Related Problems in Adult Psychiatric Inpatients -A Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Katharina Wien Katharina Wien 1,2*Pamela Reissner Pamela Reissner 3Gudrun Hefner Gudrun Hefner 4Julia Thern Julia Thern 1Stefan Borgwardt Stefan Borgwardt 2,5
  • 1 Hospital Pharmacy, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany
  • 2 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Vitos Klinikum Hochtaunus, Bad Homburg, Germany
  • 4 Vitos Clinic for Forensic Psychiatry, Eltville, Germany
  • 5 Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Most psychiatric inpatients receive psychopharmacological treatment indicated for their mental diseases. The aim of this systematic review is to give clinical pharmacists and physicians a comprehensive summary of common drug-related problems (DRPs) in adult psychiatric inpatients and of potential interventions to solve them in clinical practice. Methods: Six databases and registers were searched for English, German and French articles published between 1999 and 2023 with content regarding the prevalence and/or type or interventions to solve DRPs in adult psychiatric inpatients. Studies were categorized based on types of DRPs and clinical interventions. The prevalence rates of DRPs and subtypes were compared quantitatively and the tested interventions were summarized qualitatively. Results: A total of 88 articles with an overall sample of over 95.425 adult psychiatric inpatients were included in this review. DRPs were reported with a prevalence range of 0.32 to 9.48 per patient. The most frequently reported DRPs were caused by prescribing errors (1.91 per patient), the most frequent subtype was drug interaction (0.77 per patient). Clinical pharmacists were involved in interventions in 7 of 13 included articles. Interventions consisted of clinical pharmacy services on the ward, educational classes, medication reviews, and the implementation of digital tools such as dispensing cabinets and prescribing tools. Discussion: The included studies were heterogeneous. The most frequent DRPs in psychiatry are related to prescribing errors and drug interactions. Clinical pharmacists may support the drug therapy by identifying and effectively solving DRPs in psychiatric inpatients using interdisciplinary approaches.

    Keywords: Drug-related problems, Psychiatry, Mental Health, inpatient, clinical interventions, Psychopharmacotherapy, Clinical pharmacists, Interdisciplinary Collaboration

    Received: 27 Aug 2024; Accepted: 07 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wien, Reissner, Hefner, Thern and Borgwardt. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Katharina Wien, Hospital Pharmacy, University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.