Objective:to characterize and determine the polypharmacy prevalence in patients with chronic diseases and to identify the factors associated, in order to improvement of pharmaceutical care focused on patient safety.Methods:cross-sectional study included 558 patients, covered by primary health care, using a household and structured questionnaire. We analyzed the data on polypharmacy and its clinical and socioeconomic factors. Poisson regression analysis with robust variance was applied, with results expressed in prevalence ratio.Results:the results showed that polypharmacy (consumption of four or more drugs) was of 37.6%. The prevalence ratio analyses identified independent variables associated with polypharmacy: age (3.05), economic strata (0.33), way of medication acquisition through a combination of out-of-pocket and Brazilian public health system (1.44), diabetes and hypertension (2.11), comorbidities (coronary artery disease 2.26) and hospital admission (1.73). In the analyses, inappropriate medication use of the 278 patients (≥ 65 years) was associated with polypharmacy (prevalence ratio 4.04).Conclusion:polypharmacy study becomes an opportunity to guide the strategies for the patient safety to promote the medication without harm in chronic diseases.

Objective:This study describes the development of the medication history of the medical records to measure factors associated with medication errors among chronic diseases patients in Diamantina, Minas Gerais. Methods:retrospective, descriptive observational study of secondary data, through the review of medical records of hypertensive and diabetic patients, from March to October 2016. Results:The patients the mean age of patient was 62.1 ± 14.3 years. The number of basic nursing care (95.5%) prevailed and physician consultations were 82.6%. Polypharmacy was recorded in 54% of sample, and review of the medication lists by a pharmacist revealed that 67.0% drug included at least one risk. The most common risks were: drug-drug interaction (57.8%), renal risk (29.8%), risk of falling (12.9%) and duplicate therapies (11.9%). Factors associated with medications errors history were chronic diseases and polypharmacy, that persisted in multivariate analysis, with adjusted RP chronic diseases, diabetes RP 1.55 (95%IC 1.04-1.94), diabetes/hypertension RP 1.6 (95%CI 1.09-1.23) and polypharmacy RP 1.61 (95%IC 1.41-1.85), respectively. Conclusion:Medication errors are known to compromise patient safety. This has led to the suggestion that medication reconciliation an entry point into the systems health, ongoing care coordination and a person focused approach for people and their families.

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This study aims to characterize the access and use of medications among elderly enrolled in a Primary Health Care Unit in Diamantina, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Descriptive study with elderly (aged 60 years or older) enrolled in a health unit in the period January to December 2011, with the realization of home interviews and application of semi-structured and standardized questionnaires. The average of medications consumed was 2.6 per elderly and polypharmacy was evidenced in 18.3% of cases. 82.5% of prescription medications were free provided in the public system of municipality, and 64.2% of these were for the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular medications were the most commonly used class (diuretic and rennin-angiotensin system with 61.3%). Thus the results of this study were comparable to those found in other research on medications use of drugs by elderly, confirming the importance the using of medicines in the elderly health care.

Os pacientes em hemodiálise enfrentam inúmeros estresses físicos e psicológicos que resultam na perda da qualidade de vida e morte prematura. Neste sentido, faz-se necessário a vigilância regular dos exames laboratoriais como critérios para tomada de decisão duração do tratamento. Portanto, o presente trabalho objetivou descrever as caracteristicas clínico-laboratorial dos pacientes e identificar os fatores associados ao tempo de tratamento em hemodiálise. Realizou-se um estudo transversal retrospectivo no Serviço de Hemodiálise de um hospital de referência no Vale do Jequitinhonha, com informações de 306 pacientes obtidas no Dialsist software de gestão de nefrologia entre 2010 e 2018. Os resultados indicaram a prevanlência do diabetes como causa da doença renal crônica e consequente necessidade de hemodiálise, aprensentando um aumento de 16,7% de diabéticos em 2010 para 30,1% em 2018. O sexo masculino predominou (56,5%) e a faixa etária entre 18-64 anos concentrou 74,5% dos casos. Um total de 298 (97,4%) pacientes foram tratados pelo setor público e o tempo medio de tratamento 25,9 meses. Verificou diferença significativa para a creatinina e glicemia, entre os pacientes diabeticos e não diabeticos. Os níveis de hemoglobina, ferritina, cálcio, fósforo, paratormônio, creatinina, potássio e albumina foram associados ao tempo de hemodiálise classificados em grupos 1(≤12), 2(12< e ≤52) e 3(>52) e em meses tratamento. Conclui-se portanto, que para melhorar a qualidade de vida e as condições físicas dos pacientes é imprescindível garantir o monitoramento regular nos Serviço de Hemodiálise, como garantia da qualidade da assistência prestada.