IDENTIFICATION OF DRUG-RELATED PROBLEMS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE MAINTAINED ON HEMODIALYSIS IN SULAIMANI CITY

End stage Renal disease is a lifelong disease, patients with this disease and on continuous hemodialysis often require several medications to treat five to six comorbid conditions, Hence those patients may be at high risk for drug related problems, drug-drug interactions and noncompliance. Drug related problems (DRPs) are significant challenge to health care providers. Investigating DRPs is the core for providing patient care. For this purpose the current study has designed to investigate DRPs in patients with end stage renal disease in Sulaimani hemodialysis center. Fifty patients with end stage renal failure, on long-term hemodialysis at the hemodialysis center in Sulaimani city were enrolled in the study between February 20th to July 15th 2013. Observation has done for all medications prescribed for the patients in hemodialysis treatment chart, data for the most frequently prescribed medications were analyzed. The results revealed that under dose (29%) and treatment failure (27.7%) were the most common DRPs in the present study and 68% of the patients presented with hyperphosphatemia, while 32% of them show normal phosphate levels. 53% of those hyperphosphatemic patients receive treatment, while 47% are not effectively managed in this respect. In conclusion many DRPs have been identified in the hemodialysis center; including untreated conditions, treatment failure, inappropriate dosage form, under dose, over dose, incorrect administration and patient nonadherence which might be attributed to the lack of multidisciplinary services, providing such services by a teams of physicians, nurses, dieticians, and clinical pharmacists share the goal of preventing DRP.