What is a "Drug Utilization Review" (DUR)?

A "Drug Utilization Review" (DUR) is primarily defined as a process for evaluating prescriptions before they are dispensed. This involves a systematic review of medication orders to ensure that they are appropriate based on the patient's health status, medication history, and any potential drug interactions. DUR helps to identify issues such as overdoses, underdosing, or unnecessary therapeutic duplications.

This process is crucial in ensuring patient safety and optimizing therapy by allowing pharmacists to catch potential problems with medications before they reach the patient. By engaging in DUR, pharmacists work to prevent medication errors and ensure that prescribed drugs are not only suitable for the patient’s current condition but also compatible with any other medications they may be taking.

In the context of the other options, the evaluation of adverse drug reactions focuses more narrowly on reactions that may occur after a medication has been administered rather than on the overall appropriateness of prescriptions prior to dispensing. A review of pharmacy billing practices deals specifically with the financial aspects of medication distribution and does not involve clinical evaluation of the prescriptions themselves. Assessing patient health status is a broader task that contributes to a pharmacist's ability to conduct DUR but does not denote the specific review of prescriptions before they are dispensed. Thus, the correct understanding of DUR is