Pharmacotherapeutic follow-up of neonates in intensive care

Abstract

Objective: To describe the sociodemographic characteristics, the clinical condition, the pharmacotherapeutic profile and classify the main drug relatated problems (DRP) in neonates in intensive care in the first 28 days of life.

Methods: Longitudinal study, observacional, carried out from February to August 2020. The Pharmaceutical Workup of Drug Therapy method was used.

Results: During this period, 688 newborns were admitted, of which 208 (30.2%) used antimicrobial drugs in the first 28 days of life. Most patients were male, born by vaginal delivery, admitted for prematurity, children of primiparous and single mothers. A total of 77 problems related to the use of medication, of effectiveness (57.2%) and safety (42.8%) were identified in the newborns. A total of 495 antimicrobials were prescribed, with ampicillin and gentamicin being the most frequent. Most patients had hospital discharge as an outcome (78.4%), but 16.3% of patients died.

Conclusions: The most frequent DRP were those related to the effectiveness of the treatment, attributed to difficulties in calculating and adjusting drug doses for this population. Pharmacotherapeutic follow-up studies in neonatology are still needed in order to contribute to the improvement of patient care.