[Pilot study about pharmaceutical care implantation in a general paediatric unit in a French hospital. France-Québec collaboration and comparison].

UNLABELLED

STATE OF THE PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES: French pharmacists are quasi absent from hospital wards. Our objective was to describe the implantation of pharmaceutical care in a patient unit of a French paediatric hospital.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Following an internship in pharmaceutical care at the Sainte-Justine hospital (SJ) in Montreal, a French pharmacist returned to France to implement the pharmaceutical model in a paediatric unit at Robert Debré hospital (RD) in Paris. We first collected pharmaceutical interventions carried out during a 5-month period. In a second phase, we compared pharmaceutical interventions provided by the team composed of the same French pharmacist and a pharmacist from Québec in both settings during 14 days respectively.

RESULTS

In the first phase, 556 interventions were done (8.2+/-2,0 per day) with a significant increase observed during the first 2 months. In the second phase, 216 interventions were done at RD and 174 at SJ. The interventions were mainly related to drug information, modification of treatment and seamless care with the pharmacy of the hospital or a community pharmacy. The interventions targeted junior (30.5 to 55.4%), senior physicians (16.2 to 38.5%) and pharmacy (11.5 to 16.2%) in the different phases and sites. A high level of physician acceptance was observed, with respectively 86.0 and 93.1% at RD and SJ.

DISCUSSION

French pharmacists can apply the pharmaceutical care model following a specific training. Further studies are required to evaluate the feasibility and the impact of pharmaceutical care in France.