Types of pharmacist intervention in pharmacotherapy follow-up / Tipos de intervenciones farmacéuticas en seguimiento farmacoterapéutico

Objective: To generate a universal classification of different intervention types that can be developed by a pharmacist while conducting pharmacotherapy follow-up. Methods: Retrospective observational study. Pharmacist interventions sent to the Dader Program are analyzed for the year 2002. A draft listing the first 300 interventions is written for the classification. The list was updated by insertion of the remaining interventions. Results: Nine types of pharmacist intervention were identified and grouped in three categories: quantity of drug, pharmacological strategy, and patient education. Out of 2,361 pharmacist intervention sheets analyzed, 491 were excluded from the results. The most prevailing pharmacist interventions were those oriented towards the replacement of a drug (23,6 %), followed by those regarding the addition of a drug for the patient (23,5 %). Interventions oriented towards decreasing voluntary noncompliance (14,8 %), withdraw of a drug (14,6 %) and modification of the dose (13,4 %) were also reported. The remaining definite types of intervention were: education about non-pharmacological measures (3,4 %), decreasing of involuntary noncompliance (3,4 %), modification of dosing (2,2 %) and modification of administration schedule (1,2 %). Conclusions: A universal classification can be established where interventions that can be realized by a pharmacist in search for a solution or to prevent pharmacotherapy negative clinical outcomes are reflected and defined.