Skip to content

INTEGRATION OF THE CLINICAL PHARMACIST IN A MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM IN A BURNS UNIT

European Statement

Clinical Pharmacy Services

Author(s)

Ángel Guillermo Arévalo Bernabé, Pilar Lalueza Broto, Jordi Serracanta Doménech, Jacinto Caparrós Baena, José Manuel Collado Delfa, Jordi Aguilera Sáez, Romy Rossich Verdés, Pablo Sánchez Sancho, Juan Carlos Juárez Giménez, Maria Queralt Gorgas Torné

Why was it done?

The burns unit of a third-level hospital includes a patient’s great heterogeneity depending on his population group and his clinical condition (extension, degree and depth of his burns, etiological agent of the burns and associated comorbidities), which makes the managing of these patients complex and they need multidisciplinary solutions. In addition, extensive burns provoke physiopatological alterations that involve changes in the pharmacokinetical and the pharmacodynamical modelling of some drugs. The knowledge that the pharmacist has about the changes that take place in vascular dynamics, the clearance and the distribution volume of the drugs, and the degree of union from these to plasmatic proteins, makes his active participation in the care of the burns patient, and in the optimisation of his pharmacotherapeutic plan, very interesting.

What was done?

The integration of the pharmacist into a multidisciplinary group of assistance to the burns patient constituted as the Managing Committee of Cases and was integrated by plastic surgery, intensive medicine, intensive paediatric medicine, preventive medicine, infectious diseases, psychiatry, psychology, social work and infirmary, as well as pharmacy.

How was it done?

A protocol was devised that standardises and systematises the review of the pharmacotherapeutic plan of all patients in the burns unit, including burn critical and paediatric. Also, there is included a model of record and codificate of pharmaceutical interventions. The multidisciplinary group meets weekly and every patient is analysed from all clinical points of view, the pharmacist intervening in relation to the pharmacotherapeutic and nutritional plan.

What has been achieved?

The active integration of the pharmacist has been achieved in the clinical group of assistance to the burns patient. In addition, there has been created a collaborative attitude that has benefited joint projects of investigation. The degree of acceptance of the offers of modification that the pharmacist realises is 90%.

What next?

The following step must be, depending on the obtained results, to establish improvement assistance measures, including the accomplishment of protocols and the development of investigation projects that help to generate knowledge about the use of some drugs in burns patients, such as immunoglobulin or proteolitic enzymes for the extraction of bed sores.

×

EAHP Forum

All the EAHP team is working on providing a Forum that can help connect all the members in Conversations and Groups to talk about important matters for the European Hospital Pharmacist.

The Forum will be accessible for all the EAHP members, you don’t have to create a new account to browse and participate.

Conversations and groups

The Conversations will be moderated by our team to provide documents and relevant topics for the community.

The Groups will connect all members that share a category. Members who work on the same assocation, on the same hospital, that have the same role, etc.

Stay tuned for the realase of the forum. Soon on EAHP.