Pharmaceutical interventions in prescriptions for patients admitted with chronic renal failure.

BACKGROUND Chronic Renal Failure (CRF) is a disease that requires determined medications dosages to be adjusted. OBJECTIVES To assess the characteristics of pharmaceutical interventions concerning the dose adjustment of these drugs in patients with CRF who are admitted into hospital. METHODS A 10-month prospective and longitudinal study that calculated the glomerular filtration rate of patients who are brought into the emergency department and had values below 50ml/min/1.73m2. Subsequently, dosage recommendations were provided for the drugs that had not been adapted to the patient’s renal function. RESULTS The renal functions of 5311 patients were reviewed. One-hundred and eighty-one (3.4%) had a glomerular filtration rate below 50ml/min/1.73m2 and were receiving drugs that needed to be adjusted. 221 interventions were recorded. Reductions in dosages were the more frequent results (65.6%); 65.6% of these recommendations were accepted by the doctor. The antimicrobial group had the highest number of interventions (57.5%). Internal Medicine (50.2%) was the unit with the most interventions. CONCLUSION CRF patients that are admitted into the emergency department are a key objective concerning dosages in chronic renal failure. Pharmaceutical recommendations are highly esteemed by doctors, given their high acceptance. Revising antimicrobial drugs offers more opportunities.