Demonstrating the clinical pharmacist's activity: validation of an intervention oriented classification system

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy practice
• Health services research

Background:

• Clinical pharmacists play a vital role in identifying and resolving drug-related issues.
• A practical tool for coding pharmaceutical interventions is needed to document their performance.
• The Swiss Society of Public Health Administration and Hospital Pharmacists (GSASA) developed a new classification system.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the GSASA classification system for pharmaceutical interventions.
• To compare the GSASA system with the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) system.

Main Methods:

• The GSASA classification system (V1) was developed through expert discussions and validated in a teaching hospital.
• Clinical pharmacists used GSASA V1 and PCNE version 6.2 to document interventions over six weeks.
• System appropriateness, interpretability, validity, acceptability, feasibility, and inter-rater reliability were assessed.

Main Results:

• GSASA V1, with 4 categories and 35 subcategories, allowed complete classification of 80.9% of interventions.
• Users found GSASA V1 easier to use and were generally satisfied, noting adequate time expenditure.
• Inter-rater reliability for GSASA V1 was comparable to PCNE V6.2, with substantial agreement in most categories.
• The revised GSASA V2 (5 categories, 41 subcategories) achieved moderate total inter-rater reliability (κ = 0.52).

Conclusions:

• The GSASA classification system is a reliable and promising tool for documenting pharmaceutical interventions in daily practice.
• The system is practical, less time-consuming, and validated for appropriateness, interpretability, validity, acceptability, feasibility, and reliability.