On 9 and 30 June 2007, pharmacists from National Cancer Centre’s Department of Pharmacy conducted two medication review sessions (also known as Brown Bag reviews) with the assistance of pharmacy students from National University of Singapore (NUS).

This Brown Bag Event was organised by the student body from Emed, Voluntary Wing of NUSPS (National University of Singapore Pharmaceutical Society). Overall, the event was a huge success – it reviewed medications of 19 participants in total.

The event attracted participants who benefited from the medication reviews. Over one third of the participants who attended the medication review sessions are currently taking ten and more medications, and many of their reviews warrant counselling and education from the pharmacy staff regarding their medications.

Through this event, NCC pharmacists and pharmacy students were able to conduct detailed interviews with patients individually and identify their medication related problems. Some of the common medication problems observed include improper dosing of medications, lapsed expiry dates, drug mismatches, non-compliance as well as poor storage of medications. In addition, many patients reviewed received duplicated medication from multiple physicians without knowing it. Many cancer patients are also taking herbal supplements that can potentially interact with their medicines but they are unaware of such risk. In addition, a few participants were referred to their physicians for further education.

The feedbacks from the participants regarding this medication review event are encouraging. All participants commented that they would recommend this service to other patients and almost all participants would like to participate in future medication reviews. Furthermore, pharmacy students were also benefit from the medication review event as they can gain more exposure and insights of the practice setting.

Dr. Alexandre Chan
Assistant Professor, Dept of Pharmacy, NUS
Assisting Honorary Secretary, PSS