Palavras-chave: problemas relacionados à farmacoterapia (PRF), farmácia clínica, farmacêutico clínico, intervenções farmacêuticas, equipe multidisciplinar, centro de terapia intensiva pediátrica.
ABSTRACTMedication errors and adverse events related to drugs are common in hospitalized patients.The potential risk for medication errors in pediatric patients is about three times higher than in adults, especially in intensive care units, where patients are subjected to a large number of intravenous drug prescriptions, with low therapeutic index and adapted pharmaceutical forms.Clinical pharmacy aims to introduce the clinical pharmacist in a multidisciplinary health team in order to intervene, preventing drug-related problems (DRPs) and optimize pharmacotherapy, contributing to patient safety. This study aimed to assess the implementation and the impact of clinical pharmacy interventions in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) of Hospital das Clinicas of Ribeirao Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo (HCFMRP-USP). This was a prospective, observational and descriptive study which included children from zero to eighteen years of age, over a one year period. FailureMode and Effects Analysis Tool (FMEA) was applied at the beginning of the study to assess the risks related to medicines in the PICU and to guide clinical pharmacy work, where the pharmacist evaluated daily prescriptions and made interventions along with a multidisciplinary team. One thousand five hundred and eighty-six prescriptions of 162 children were assessed, and a DRPs rate of 12.42% (95% CI -10.50 to 14.04) was found. One hundred ninety-seven interventions were performed, with a cost saving of R$ 15,118.73. The main types of interventions were related to indication and necessity of the drug. From these, the groups were divided in patients with DRPs and without DRPs. Significant differences were found in weight, age, time of hospitalization, time of follow-up, total cost, costs saved by interventions, severity of patients assessed by PRISM and PELOD scores, total amount of medications used, and number of potentially dangerous and continuous intravenous medications. In addition, there were significant differences in mortality rate and diagnostic categories between groups. The implementation of clinical pharmacy service in the PICU showed a positive impact on patients' treatment. The clinical pharmacist interventions identified and prevented DRPs, promoting the rational use of medications and contributing to the reduction of costs associated with medical prescription.