[Identifying and solving drug-related problems in terms of the community pharmacist].

The issue of drug related problems (DRPs) has been known and dealt with in many studies for a long time. It is primarily due to the fact that drug-related problems have the potential to increase patients morbidity and mortality in particular. The issue of identifying and solving drug-related problems in the area of pharmacotherapy by community pharmacists in the Slovak Republic, unlike in other European countries such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, is still at the beginning and gradually developing. The aim of the survey was to obtain information from pharmacy practice concerning the current state and possible solutions of potential risks of medicines in the form of drug-related problems of patients from community pharmacists point of view as well as to find out the role and status of community pharmacists in identifying and solving drug-related problems. A questionnaire survey using a sample of 237 respondents, its statistical processing and evaluation revealed the drug-related problems frequency met at their patients (the most common types of DRPs, their causes and subsequent intervention), as well as the opinions of community pharmacists on their current possibilities of (legislative, material, personnel, time) solving and risk-rating therapies for patients.