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Possible Role for Clinical Pharmacists in Identifying Pharmacogenomic Interventions
Author(s) -
Toy Alana C,
Anderson Barbara A,
McKin Ross A,
Gilbert Andrew L
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of pharmacy practice and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2055-2335
pISSN - 1445-937X
DOI - 10.1002/j.2055-2335.2006.tb00884.x
Subject(s) - pharmacogenomics , medicine , psychological intervention , pharmacy , clinical pharmacy , pharmacy practice , clinical practice , pharmacotherapy , family medicine , pharmacology , nursing
Background Individualised drug therapy is important in contemporary pharmacy practice. Pharmacogenomics is one way of individualising therapy to maximise efficacy and minimise toxicity, based on patients' genetic data. Aim To assess clinical pharmacists' understanding of pharmacogenomics and their ability to identify interventions. Method Structured interviews were conducted with 9 clinical pharmacists, practising in a private hospital setting, to identify: level of understanding of pharmacogenomics; drugs encountered that display significant inter‐patient variability; and whether a literature review could confirm that dugs identified are likely to have a genetic basis for their variability. Results Findings of this pilot study show that although pharmacists had a negligible understanding of pharmacogenomics, they acknowledged the importance of its integration into clinical practice and the need for education. Pharmacists identified a number of drugs which displayed inter‐patient variability—the drugs were subsequently confirmed by a literature search to be affected by genetic polymorphisms. Conclusion For pharmacogenomics to be successfully implemented in practice, there is a need for education of pharmacists. Pharmacists saw pharmacogenomics as a beneficial technology that could improve patient outcomes.