ABSTRACT
Clinical pharmacy is a health discipline in which pharmacists provide patient care that optimizes rational medication use and promotes health, wellness and disease prevention. The beginnings of clinical pharmacy in Chile were inspired by the origin in the School of Pharmacy of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), in the mid-1960s. However, the historical development in our country, both in teaching and in the professional field, was accompanied by difficulties and success, which became a long and winding road. This article shares the events that gave rise to its beginnings in Chile, first through teaching, then in pharmacovigilance and clinical pharmacokinetics, to later describe its professional expansion and recognition as a specialty of pharmacy. This article briefly recounts the history of the Chilean clinical pharmacy to this day. Some names of people or institutions were not mentioned. Therefore the authors apologize in advance to pharmacists and organizations whose contribution cannot be recognized in this way. However, we know that this specialty has not been forged only by the names that appear, but by all those who love and respect the work of the clinical pharmacy.
Subject(s)
Humans , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Pharmacy , Pharmacy Service, Hospital/history , Pharmacists , ChileABSTRACT
Background: it is not clear if old age is a risk factor for adverse drug reactions. Aim: to study the incidence of adverse drug reactions and the effect of age n patients admitted to and Internal Medicine Service in an university hospital. Patients and methods: two hundred one patients, hospitalized at the Clinical Hospital of the Catholic University, were studied. These patients were followed using a prospective pharmacological surveillance method. For statistical purposes patients aged 65 years old or older were compared with those younger than 65 years old. Results: patients over 65 years old bad a 33 percent incidence of adverse drug reactions, mainly involving cardiovascular system and provoking metabolic disturbances. Younger subyects bad a 24 percent incidence of adverse drug reactions, mainly involving the gastrointestinal system and the skin. Sixteen percent of adverse drug reactions were classified as severe and the was a direct relationship between its frequency and the number of drugs prescribed, the hospitalization length and the presence of renal failure. Younger patients with adverse drug reactions bad lower serum albumin levels than those without adverse reactions. This relationship was not observed in older patients. Conclusions: the frequency of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients, is related to the number of drugs prescribed and the lengib of hospitalization