Pharmaceutical care: pharmacy involvement in prescribing in an acute-care hospital.

Background: [corrected] Pharmaceutical care implies reaching a consensus with physicians on prescriptions in cases that call for the substitution of one active ingredient for another, a modification in dose, frequency, route of administration, etc., through the unit-dose distribution system. The goal of pharmacist interventions in the hospital should be to achieve a rational use of drugs; to ensure this, a daily review of patient prescriptions by a pharmacist is necessary.