The Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) was established in 1994 and it became an official association (under Dutch law) in 2004.
Pharmaceutical Care is the pharmacist's contribution to the care of individuals, in order to optimize medicines use and improve health outcomes.
During the first Working Conference of the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe in January 1999 in Hilleroed, Denmark, a classification scheme was constructed for drug related problems (DRPs). In the years thereafter the classification underwent many tests and changes, leading to a number of new versions.
The definition of drug-related problems, and the 2009 version of the PCNE-DRP classification have been extensively discussed during a dedicated and important PCNE Working Symposium on Drug Related Problems in Geneva. There were international 18 experts present who discussed definitions, the new version (V6) of the PCNE DRP classification and validation issues.
The different abstracts, presentations and reports from that meeting are available from Working Symposium 2009.
In 2017, a new discussion round was held between experts, and this was the start for the creation of a new version. One of the essential new elements was a domain for the way that the proposed interventions are presented, and one for the level acceptance of the intervention. The domain outcome was also scrutinised and adapted.
After a quick validation and a new discussion on the validation process in Heidelberg, some minor changes were implemented and V8 became the new standard. During the 2019 Working Conference in Egmond, the Classification and its validation were again discussed, and this lead to some minor changes. After a new validation round, the current version (V9.1) was prepared, and includes a simplified domain on possible causes that can be found in seamless care (patient transfer between different settings or clinical departments). V 9.1 comes into effect per 20-5-2020.
Additional information can be obtained from the DRP Working group of the PCNE at drp@pcne.org.
