[Pharmaceutical interventions in the new medicine service].

BACKGROUND

Community pharmacy has been promoted internationally for the management of minor ailments with positive results for patients and health care systems. This study evaluates the clinical impact and implementation of a minor ailment service in community pharmacies' daily practice.

METHODS

A pragmatic study with a hybrid effectiveness-implementation design was conducted throughout Spain between 2020-2023. Patients who visited community pharmacies to consult or request a medicine for a minor ailment were included. The intervention consisted of a protocol for the minor ailment service and specific protocols for each ailment agreed with general medical practitioners through the SEFAC eXPERT® IT platform and after community pharmacists' training. Patients were followed up 10 days after the consultation.

RESULTS

A total of 430 pharmacies registered 20,987 consultations. 85.2% (n=17,885) were consultations about minor ailments and 14.8% (n=3,102) were requests for specific medications. Minor ailments related to pain (18.7%, n=3,935) were the most frequently consulted. Pharmacists recommended pharmacological treatment to 81.3% (n=17,063) patients and referred 8.0% (n=1,682) patients to a general medical practitioner. 72.4% (n=15,192) of patients responded to follow-up with a symptom resolution of 9.0/10.0, a change in quality of life of +9.0 (0-100 scale) and a satisfaction with the service of 9.6/10.

CONCLUSIONS

SIF proved to be both operational and effective, yielding beneficial health outcomes. Its implementation enabled the evaluation of a substantial number of consultations and highlighted the need to encourage the routine documentation of services in community pharmacy practice.