Objective: To assess the quality of pharmaceutical care for inpatients using qualitative criteria as established in the Valor program.
Method: Evaluation study through 43 explicit structural, process, and outcome criteria within the Valor program, in which pharmacists in the Unit Dose Functional Unit may assess themselves along a compliance scale from 0 to 100%. This Unit provides daily individualized pharmaceutical care to 550 patients in an adult general and surgery hospital. Mean scores per pharmacist and item are estimated for the 2003-2005 period.
Results: Mean compliance assessments for all 14 interannual "structural items" were 53, 57, and 64%; those for all 13 "process items" were 52, 51, and 46%; and those for all 15 "outcome items" were 18, 28, and 26%. A variability of 20% was documented for structure and process evaluations, and of 50% for outcome assessments.
Conclusions: Every autoevaluation raises to the equipment the necessity to establish improvements and to enhance communication, and the application of standardized procedures in the pharmaceutical care process.