Validation of a methodology for inpatient pharmacotherapy follow-up / Validación de una metodología para el seguimiento farmacoterapéutico en paciente hospitalizado

Background: Pharmacotherapy follow-up is a practice in which the pharmacist assumes responsibilityfor the patient’s drug-related Problems. Its goal is to achieve positive clinical outcomes. Methods toperform pharmacotherapy follow-up have centered principally on ambulatory patients. Objective: Thepurpose of this study is to propose and validate a methodology for inpatient pharmacotherapy follow-up.Methods: A systematic review was performed. This consisted in a comprehensive search of databasescontaining studies published in English or Spanish during 1998 - 2008, and that sought to improve thetransfer of accurate information about Pharmacotherapy follow-up in inpatients. The key terms used toconduct the search were identified in consultation with clinical experts and included: Pharmacotherapyfollow-up methods, pharmacotherapy follow-up, drug therapy problems, and validation. A comparativetable was elaborated to differentiate and evaluate the advantages of each of the proposed methodologies.The information gathered allowed to propose a sequence of general steps for inpatient Pharmacotherapyfollow-up. To validate the methodology, a descriptive study was carried out with 32 randomly selectedpatients and was independently followed up by two pharmacists to assess the reproducibility of the process.Results: Pharmaceutical Care Practice: The Clinician’s Guide, proposed by Cipolle & Strand. AppliedTherapeutics: The Clinical Use of Drugs, the DÁDER method, and the IASER program, were selected.79 drug therapy problems (DTPs) were identified and resolved, where errors in necessity of medicationhad the highest incidence (46.6%), followed by effectiveness (24.5%) and safety (28.9%). The degree ofagreement among researchers in the identification and resolution of DTPs was quantified using the kappacoefficient, showing a high concordance (90% CI)...