Nursing interventions as part of an integral pharmaceutical care team.

OBJECTIVE To describe interventions carried out by nurses in the Pharmaceutical Care Unit upon admission and in Outpatient Consultation (FACE) with the aim of promoting effective, safe and efficient pharmacotherapy for hospitalised patients. METHOD A descriptive study of nursing activity carried out in the Outpatient Consultation Unit between April 2008 and March 2009. The nurse performs five specific, formalised activities: clarifying differences in the medical records related to drugs allergies or intolerances, identifying pharmacotherapy discrepancies between acute and chronic treatment, identifying opportunities for improving pharmacotherapy, contributing to patient education about his/her treatment upon discharge and dispensing limited duration drugs (less than 30 days) upon discharge to avoid accumulation of medication at home. RESULTS During the study period the nurse took part in the pharmacotherapy administered to 1,360 patients (57.6% of total patients treated by the integral pharmaceutical care team), for a total of 1,709 individual interventions. These interventions were performed in order to clarify differences in medical records regarding drug allergies or intolerances (n=111), to identify pharmacotherapy discrepancies between acute and chronic treatment (n=118), to identify opportunities for improving pharmacotherapy (n=263), and upon discharge in order to educate the patient about his/her treatment (n=31) and to dispense limited duration drugs (n=1186). CONCLUSIONS The nurse's contribution to the integral pharmaceutical care team helps to improve the quality of pharmacotherapy in terms of effectiveness, safety and efficiency pharmacotherapy.