Evaluation of the impact of pharmaceutical care for tuberculosis patients in a secondary referral outpatient clinic, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

Pharmaceutical care is a professional practice seeking the responsible provision of drug therapy by identifying, resolving, and preventing Drug-Related Problems (DRP). The study aims to describe and evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical care given to patients being treated for tuberculosis (TB). Study concurrent, longitudinal, prospective conducted during pharmaceutical care in the TB outpatient clinic, Clinical Hospital, Federal University of Minas Gerais during the period August 2009 to July 2012. The Pharmacotherapy Workup proposed by Cipolle et al. (2004) was used. Statistical analyses were performed by X2 or Fisher exact test, as appropriate. A total of 62 patients were followed up, and 128 drug-related problems (DRP) were identified: 69.5% related to safety, 13.3% to effectiveness, 12.5% to indication, and 4.7% to treatment adherence, and 62.1% of the DRP were resolved. A total of 115 pharmaceutical interventions were performed. The impact of pharmaceutical care was satisfactory for 73.9% of patients with a resolution rate of 77%. There was a greater impact on pharmaceutical care (index ≥ 0.50) for those patients who were not smokers (p <0.05). The impact of pharmaceutical care was important, so the pharmacist should work alongside the multidisciplinary team to monitor treatment and perform interventions.