Programa de coordinación en la transición asistencial para la mejora de la farmacoterapia entre un Servicio de Urgencias y un Centro Sociosanitario

Objectives: To describe a collaborative program between pharmacists from an Emergency Department and a longterm Health Care Center, and to evaluate its impact on the frequency of visits to the emergency department.

Material and methods: Retrospective observational study in which the interventions performed by a multidisciplinary collaboration team in patients discharged from an Emergency Service to a long-term Health Care Center for 9 months were described. To evaluate the health-care impact of this intervention, the number of
re-visits to the emergency department at 30 days of patient’s dischrge to longterm Health Care Center was compared
with the same period of the previous year.

Results: 627 patients discharged from the Emergency Department to the long-term Health Care Center, being treatment modifications reported in 233 patients (mean age: 87.1 (SD: 7.7) years). The main reason for attending the emergency room was respiratory infection (74; 31.8%), followed by urinary infection (33; 14.2%). Interventions were performed in 48 (20.6%) of the patients upon admission by pharmacists of the the long-term Health Care Center, being the adjustment of antibiotic therapy the most frequent intervention (13; 27.1%). There was a non-significant trend towards a reduction in the number of re-visits to the Emergency Department during the intervention period (6.6% vs. 4.9%; p=0.258).

Conclusions: Communication between the pharmacists responsible for the Emergency Service and long-term Health Care Centers allows a comprehensive action on the patient's pharmacotherapy, with a potential impact on the healthcare system