Inpatient Counselling


The category of patients requiring counselling

Due to the limited number of pharmacist in a hospital and the increasing number of patients in ward, identification of actual patients who require counselling is essential. One of those who requires counselling is the newly admitted patients. Most of the newly admitted patient will have new medications added to them and they should be counselled so that they know how to take the medicine and understand the benefit of taking them.

Another category of patient who require counselling is those who are taking many drugs and prone to drug-drug interaction. This is a common case in the elderly settings whereby many of them will have multiple chronic illnesses which require them to take multiple medications at once. Polypharmacy is one of the cause of non-adherence and it is important for pharmacist to educate patient and prevent medication non adherence.

Next category is patients who need to use special devices to treat their illness such as inhaler or insulin pen. Pharmacists need to make sure that they teach the patient with right techniques of using the prescribed devices and the patients understand clearly on how to use it. It is also best to counsel the closest kin of the patients as well so that there will be a third person to monitor on how to use the device at home.

Another category is the special population such the elderly, patients who are infected with serious diseases such as AIDS, patient who are mentally ill (which require the pharmacists to counsel the closest kin of the patient), children and terminally ill patients.

In some circumstances, patients who are on certain special medications also require counselling. For example, those who are on the warfarin therapy and chemotherapy regimen. Patients need to know the beneficial and side effects of such drugs.

Criteria of patients who ideally need counselling:
  • Patients using devices (inhalers, insulin pen); to reinstate what has been taught during ward stay
  • Patients with multiple medications (polypharmacy)
  • Patients newly diagnosed with chronic illnesses
  • Patients on medications with narrow therapeutic index
  • Patients who have poor understanding/knowledge/comprehension of medication usage/regimen