Drug-Related Problems among Hospitalized Surgical Elderly Patients in China

Table 3

Causes of DRPs () according to the PCNE DRP classification tool and severities of DRPs () based on the NCC-MERP classification.

Primary domain	Code	Causes		%	Potential severity category; B-D ()	%	Potential severity category; E-H ()	%
(1) Drug selection	C1	Total	457	43.1	359	78.6	98	21.4
	C1.1	Inappropriate drug according to guidelines/formulary	37	3.5	23	62.2	14	37.8
	C1.2	Inappropriate drug according to guidelines/formulary	38	3.6	28	73.7	10	26.3
	C1.3	No indication for drug	237	22.3	198	83.5	39	16.5
	C1.4	Inappropriate combination of drugs or drugs and herbal medication	40	3.8	34	85.0	6	15.0
	C1.5	Inappropriate duplication of therapeutic group or active ingredient	62	5.8	45	72.6	17	27.4
	C1.6	No drug treatment in spite of existing indication	25	2.4	18	72.0	7	28.0
	C1.7	Too many drugs prescribed for indication	18	1.7	13	72.2	5	27.8
(2) Drug form	C2	Total	86	8.1	77	89.5	9	10.5
	C2.1	Inappropriate drug form (for this patient)	86	8.1	77	89.5	9	10.5
(3) Dose selection	C3	Total	457	43.1	305	66.7	152	33.3
	C3.1	Drug dose too low	15	1.4	10	66.7	5	33.3
	C3.2	Drug dose too high	177	16.7	110	62.1	67	37.9
	C3.3	Dosage regimen not frequent enough	188	17.7	126	67.0	62	33.0
	C3.4	Dosage regimen too frequent	47	4.5	29	61.7	18	38.3
	C3.5	Dose timing instructions wrong, unclear, or missing	30	2.8	30	100.0	0	0.0
(4) Treatment duration	C4	Total	42	4.0	38	90.5	4	9.5
	C4.2	Duration of treatment too long	42	4.0	38	90.5	4	9.5
(8) Other	C8	Total	19	1.7	18	94.7	1	5.3
	C8.2	Other cause	19	1.7	18	94.7	1	5.3
Total			1061	100.0	797	75.1	264	24.9

PCNE: Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe; DRP: drug-related problem.