Evaluation of the quality of scientific evidence of pharmaceutical interventions in an emergency department

Objectives: To assess the quality of Pharmaceutical Interventions of starting a drug treatment based on the available scientific evidence, in an Emergency Department with a Clinical Pharmacist working full-time. To analyze the rate of Pharmaceutical Interventions over chronic or acute treatments and the ATC group of drugs involved. \udMethod: The pharmacotherapy recommendations on Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) were classified and for every Pharmaceutical Intervention was assessed the quality of scientific evidence, strength of clinical recommendation, morbidity/mortality reduction, chronic or acute treatment and ATC group of drug involved. Results: During the study period 2776 Pharmaceutical Interventions were performed of which 47% were starting-drug interventions, being 73% justified with scientific evidence. The 84% of starting-drug interventions were assessed with quality of evidence and strength of recommendation IA, 9% IC and 4% IB and 67% have been shown to reduce the morbidity/mortality according the CPG. 73% of interventions were related with patients’ chronic treatment and ATC groups most frequently involved were N group (nervous system) and C group (cardiovascular system). In acute treatment the most frequent were B group and A group (Alimentary tract and metabolism). \udConclusions: The starting-drug Pharmaceutical Interventions performed by an emergency department clinical pharmacist show a high adherence to CPG for most frequent pathologies, with good quality of evidence and good strength of recommendation as well as an associated morbidity/mortality reduction. Most starting-drug interventions were related to chronic treatment reconciliation, being drugs of N and C ATC group the most frequent involved\u