Background Clinical safety is a priority healthcare quality issue. Health services have implemented patient safety projects to prevent adverse events.

Purpose To assess whether the inclusion of a clinical pharmacist in the safety program improves the effectiveness and safe use of medicines.

To analyse the type of interventions carried out.

Material and methods We conducted a one year descriptive study of the role of the clinical pharmacist as a part of a multidisciplinary safety team.

The study took place in an integrated healthcare organisation that includes primary care (7 centres), a hospital (110 beds) and an intermediate care facility (210 beds). We recorded and analysed pharmaceutical tasks and interventions.

Results The pharmacist’s portfolio includes: identification of medicines-related risk in the computerised prescription program, the arrangement of stocks of medicines on hospital wards, identifying and locating separately high-risk drugs, the recording of safety-related interventions through the validation of medical electronic prescriptions, drug reconciliation and review of safety notifications from the core hospital safety team.

1,031 interventions were recorded derived from validation of prescriptions: 143 drugs suspended due to an interaction, duplication or contraindication; 180 modifications of dose, route or frequency of administration; 204 drug reconciliations at admission; 68 therapeutic drug monitoring or blood tests to check adverse drug events; 87 interventions to improve antibiotic prescribing and control infections; 25 incomplete prescriptions and 42 drugs omitted that were needed for the patient; 282 adjustments of drugs to hospital guidelines.

Conclusion Pharmacist interventions promote the effectiveness and safety of treatments in terms of: drug reconciliation, dose adjustment and reduction of drug-related problems, such as contraindications, duplications or interactions.

The most common interventions concerned compliance with hospital guidelines.

References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.