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Objective: To investigate the sources and causes of interruptions during the medication administration process performed by a nursing team and measure its frequency, duration and impact on the team's workload., Métodos: This is an observational study that timed 121 medication rounds (preparation, administration and documentation) performed by 15 nurses and nine nursing technicians in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the countryside of the state of São Paulo., Resultados: 63 (52.1%) interruptions were observed. In each round, the number of interruptions that happened ranged from 1-7, for 127 in total; these occurred mainly during the preparation phase, 97 (76.4%). The main interruption sources were: nursing staff - 48 (37.8%) - and self-interruptions - 29 (22.8%). The main causes were: information exchanges - 54 (42.5%) - and parallel conversations - 28 (22%). The increase in the mean time ranged from 53.7 to 64.3% (preparation) and from 18.3 to 19.2% (administration) - p≤0.05., Conclusão: Interruptions in the medication process are frequent, interfere in the workload of the nursing team and may reflect on the safety of care.

Objective: To build and validate the Patient Safety Assessment in Medication Administration (ASPAM - Avaliação da Segurança do Paciente na Administração de Medicamentos) tool., Method: Methodological study in which the construction, Content Validation Index (CVI), construct validation (factorial analysis) and reliability were performed in terms of homogeneity (Cronbach's Alpha)., Results: The ASPAM reached CVI of 0.77 for simplicity, 0.76 for clarity and 0.93 for relevance. The exploratory factorial analysis was adequate for the tool (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkim of 0.66 and Bartlett's sphericity with p <0.001). The Cronbach's Alpha end of the scale with 28 items was 0.85., Conclusion: The ASPAM tool was valid and reliable for the identification of risk-generating conditions for the occurrence of Adverse Drug Events.

Objective: Pharmaceutical assistance is essential in health care and a right of citizens according to Brazilian law and drug policies. The study purpose was to evaluate aspects of pharmaceutical assistance in public primary health care., Methods: A cross-sectional study using WHO drug indicators was carried out in Brasilia in 2001. From a random sample of 15 out of 62 centers thirty exiting patients per center were interviewed., Results: Only 18.7% of the patients fully understood the prescription, 56.3% could read it, 61.2% of the prescribed drugs were actually dispensed, and mean duration of pharmaceutical dispensing was 53.2 seconds. Each visit lasted on average 9.4 minutes. Of prescribed and non-dispensed drugs, 85.3% and 60.6% were on the local essential drug list (EDL) respectively. On average 83.2% of 40 essential drugs were in stock, and only two centers had a pharmacist in charge of the pharmacy. The mean number of drugs per prescription was 2.3, 85.3% of prescribed drugs were on the EDL, 73.2% were prescribed using the generic denomination, 26.4% included antibiotics and 7.5% were injectables. The most prescribed groups were: cardiovascular drugs (26.8%), anti-infective drugs (13.1%), analgesics (8.9%), anti-asthmatic drugs (5.8%), anti-diabetic drugs (5.3%), psychoactive drugs (3.7%), and combination drugs (2.7%)., Conclusions: Essential drugs were only moderately available almost 30 years after the first Brazilian EDL was formulated. While physician use of essential drugs and generic names was fairly high, efficiency was impaired by the poor quality of pharmaceutical care, resulting in very low patient understanding and insufficient guarantee of supply, particularly for chronic diseases.