Criteria for prioritizing hospitalized patients for clinical pharmacy services: a consensus proposal from a public hospital in Brasília
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30968/jhphs.2026.171.1387Abstract
Objective: To determine the general patient prioritization criteria for the clinical pharmacy service at a public hospital in Brasília. Methods: This study was conducted in two stages. The first stage involved a narrative literature review of articles published, followed by a consensus meeting using the nominal group technique. Six clinical pharmacists working at the hospital participated in the consensus meeting. The meetin was organized in four phases: First, the findings from the literature review were presented, and a table of identified criteria was shared with all participants. Second, the group discussed and defined a list of the main prioritization criteria. After an initial consensus, the criteria were ranked by scoring the general factors for prioritizing hospitalized patients. Results: The literature review identified 22 articles, which led to an initial list of criteria categorized into three areas: health conditions (HC) – 9 items, laboratory monitoring (LM) – 21 tests, and pharmacological therapy (PT) – 7 items. Of these, 16 criteria were prioritized. The most significant criteria included: sepsis diagnosis (HC), criticality-related risk factors (HC), renal failure (LM), thromboembolism diagnosis (HC), polypharmacy (ten or more medications) (PT), multimorbidity (HC), use of potentially dangerous medications (PT), and medication errors (PT). Conclusion: The agreed-upon criteria describe critically ill patient profiles who require closer monitoring by the pharmacist and other healthcare team members, as well as enhanced technological infrastructure.
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