EVALUATION OF HOSPITAL PHARMACY SERVICES: AN INTEGRATIVE REVIEW
Rodrigo Fonseca Lima, Maria Inês de Toledo, Janeth de Oliveira Silva Naves

Objective: To identify, describe and compare studies evaluating pharmaceutical services performed in the hospital context.

Method: An integrative review of articles published in periodicals indexed in the period from 2000 to 2016, without restriction on language, in the databases SciELO, LILACS, MEDLINE and IBECS according to the descriptors: “Hospital Pharmacy Service” and “Evaluation”. The references were analyzed according to year, language, country of publication and type of study, and classified according to their focus on the components of the hospital pharmacy service logistics model which focused on management, selection, programming, acquisition, storage and distribution of medications, information, pharmacotherapeutic follow-up, pharmacotechnical, as well as teaching and research.

Results: Sixteen (16 - 64%) of the 25 publications were in English, of which 10 (40%) were conducted in the United States; 17 (70%) studies were published from 2010 to 2016, and 13 (52%) were observational descriptive studies. The most discussed component of pharmaceutical services was distribution logistics addressed in 15 publications (60%), followed by the management component addressed by 14 (56%) studies.

Conclusions: Most of the publications emphasized the discussion of aspects related to drug logistics, and only a few presented wider discussions in the context of the impact of these services on health care, such as patient safety. The results point to the need for more research aimed at reflecting on the importance of the theme and the guidance of necessary actions to strengthen these activities. Such studies may support the decision-making process and forming strategies aimed at increasing management capacity and the quality of the provided service.

Descriptors: Integrative Review, Hospital Pharmacy Service, Evaluation of Health Services.