Background The increase in the total number of drugs dispensed in the hospital pharmacy dispensation area (DA) requires broader knowledge and new methodologies for pharmaceutical care (PC).

This involves prevention, identification and resolution of drug related problems (interactions, therapeutic adherence, adverse reactions, etc) and information to patients.

Purpose To study the type of PC that is applied and in which pathologies this resource is being more used at the moment.

Material and methods A survey was conducted on the different aspects related to the organisation, human and physical resources assigned to this area and type of assistance received by outpatients.

Results 105 hospitals completed the survey. 42% (44) had 101–300 beds, 25% (26) had 301–500 beds, 17% (18) had 501–1000 beds, 7% (7) had >1000 beds and 9% (10) had <100 bed, and the average number of pharmacists were 4, 6, 12, 9 and 1, respectively.

94% (99) of hospitals performed PC. 49% (48) had 1 pharmacist in charge for this task, 29% (29) had 2, 8% (8) had 3 and 14% (14) had 4 or more pharmacists.

In all hospitals in which PC was in place, this was performed at the beginning of treatment; however, in only 56% (55) of cases were there follow-up visits which were either monthly (26%), quarterly (28%) or semi-annually (10%).

92% of hospitals performed PC in HCV, 92% in oncologic-haematologic diseases, 88% in HIV, 87% in rheumatoid arthritis, 81% in multiple sclerosis and 74% in HBV.

The pharmacist dispensed the medication in 90 of the 105 hospitals. In addition, other personnel involved in this task included pharmacy technicians (36%), nurse assistants (44%), higher degree technicians (8%) and nurses (18%).

Conclusion Variability was observed at hospitals DA concerning both human and physical resources.

Not all hospitals did PC for the same pathologies, nor with the same frequency. A prevalence of PC for HCV, oncologic-haematologic diseases and HIV was shown in this study compared with other pathologies.

The differences observed in terms of outpatient dispensation PC models make us think that guidelines on how to develop the activity and how to distribute the resources are necessary.

No conflict of interest.