Documentation of pharmaceutical care: development of an intervention oriented classification system

Background A standardised classification system of pharmaceutical interventions (PI) is in use in several Swiss hospitals, whereas none exists for community pharmacies to date. To promote information exchange between both settings, a compatible structure of the classification system is needed. Objective To develop an intervention oriented classification system for community pharmacies named PharmDISC based on the hospital system; to test it on interrater reliability, appropriateness, interpretability, and face and content validity; to assess pharmacists’ opinions. Setting Seventy-seven Swiss community pharmacies. Method Based on previous studies, a modified classification system was developed. Fifth-year pharmacy students (n = 77) received a two-hour training and classified three model PIs with which Fleiss-Kappa coefficients K were calculated to determine interrater reliability. In the community pharmacies, each student consecutively collected ten prescriptions that required a PI. A focus group interview was conducted with pharmacists (n = 9). The anonymised transcript was analysed using thematic analysis. Main outcome measure Number of classified PIs, interrater reliability, pharmacists’ opinion/suggestions. Results The classification system includes 5 categories and 52 subcategories. Most of the 725 PIs (94.6%) were completely classified. The PharmDISC system reached an overall substantial user agreement (K = 0.61). Despite some points for optimisation, the pharmacists were satisfied with the PharmDISC system. They recognised the importance of PI documentation and believed that this may allow traceability, facilitate communication within the team and other healthcare professionals, and increase quality of care. Conclusion The PharmDISC system was valid and reached substantial interrater reliability. Refinement based on the pharmacists’ suggestions resulted in a final version to be tested in an observational study with community pharmacists.