Pharmaceutical interventions in an intensive care unit of a university hospital

Abstract

Introduction: The pharmaceutical intervention aims to solve or prevent negative results from the use of drugs. Scientific evidence has shown that pharmaceutical care improves clinical and economic outcomes. Goals: To evaluate and describe the profile of the pharmaceutical interventions (FI) performed by the pharmacist clinical intensivist and evidence its importance in an Adult Intensive Care Unit of a university hospital. Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study, carried out from March to December 2016. All the FIs performed in the daily clinical practice recorded in the institution’s electronic database were included in the study. The interventions were classified into interventions related or not related to the drug according to the categories standardized by the institution’s clinical pharmacy service. Results: During the study period, there were 506 pharmaceutical interventions performed (mean of 51 interventions/month and 1.68 interventions/day). The most prevalent drug-related interventions were drug-related incompatibility via Y-connection (n = 171, 38.43%), need for therapy (n 63, 14.16%) and lack of medication (n = 40, 99%). The most common interventions that were not drug-related were: non-compliance of the prescription (n = 18, 29.51%), justification of a restricted drug/antimicrobial drug expired (n = 14, 22.95%), and failure in identifying the drug (n = 7; 11.47%). The average acceptability of interventions by professionals was 96.24%. Conclusions: The profile of the pharmaceutical interventions observed and the high acceptability rate found highlights the importance of the clinical pharmacist in obtaining more effective and safe therapeutic results in critically ill patients.