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Aim: To determine the professional profile and the work conditions of nurses working in intensive care units (ICU) in Colombia, Argentina, Peru and Brazil. Background: ICUs require a differentiated professional profile to provide quality care, and appropriate working conditions, leading to a transformation of care and management practices. Design: Descriptive multicentre cross-sectional observational study. Methods: An online survey was applied to identify both the characteristics of the professional profile and the working conditions. 1,427 ICU nursing professionals were included. RStudio statistical software was used for the analysis of the information. Descriptive statistics were used for the presentation of the results. The STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies was used in this study. Results: Only 33.6% of the professionals had a specialisation degree in intensive care. The skills that were most frequently put into practice were communication (68.5%) and care management (78.5%). The most predominant nurse-to-patient ratios were 1:2, and greater than 1:6. 59.1% of the nurses had an indefinite term contract, 38.8% worked 48 hours per week and 49.8% had rotating shifts. Only 50.4% of them received incentives. The average salary ranged between 348 and 1,500 USD. 64.5% of the participants were satisfied with their job. Conclusion: It is necessary to strengthen nurses’ professional profile by promoting both postgraduate education and the development of troubleshooting and teamwork skills. It is necessary to standardise the nurse-to-patient ratio, improve wages and increase incentives to achieve greater job satisfaction. Relevance to practice: The knowledge and the improvement of both the professional profile and the work conditions of nurses working in intensive care units will improve the quality of the care given to critical patients and, therefore, the quality of health outcomes., Fil: Achury Saldaña, Diana Marcela. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Achury Beltrán, Luisa Fernanda. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Rodríguez Colmenares, Sandra Mónica. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Alvarado Romero, Herly Ruth. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Cavallo, Edhit. Universidad Católica de Cordoba; Argentina, Fil: Ulloa, Ana Cristina. Universidad Católica de Cordoba; Argentina, Fil: Merino, Virginia. Hospital Edgardo Rebagliati Martins; Perú, Fil: da Silva Barreto, Mayckel. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; Brasil, Fil: Andrade Fonseca, David. B. Braun Avitum; Colombia, Fil: Muñoz Acuña, Doraly. Universidad de los Llanos. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Betancur Manrique, Yanier. Universidad Católica de Manizales. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Rodríguez Marín, Jorge Eliecer. Universidad Católica de Manizales. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: González Gómez, Ana Angelica. Universidad de Cartagena. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Herrera Corpas, Katerine. Universidad de Cartagena. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Andrade Méndez, Brayant. Universidad Surcolombiana. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Vargas Toloza, Ruby Elizabeth. Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: Martínez Rojas, Sandra Milena. Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia, Fil: De las Salas Martínez, Roxana Patricia. Universidad del Norte. Faculty of Nursing; Colombia

Objetivo: Describir los conocimientos relacionados con aspectos de la administración de medicamentos en la práctica de enfermería. Materiales y métodos: Se llevó a cabo un estudio descriptivo entre marzo y mayo de 2011 en tres instituciones de salud del departamento del Atlántico, en el que se estimó una muestra por conveniencia de 103 enfermeras y un enfermero encargadas de realizar las actividades relacionadas con la administración de medicamentos. Se aplicaron dos cuestionarios; uno fue respondido por las enfermeras de los hospitales y el otro fue diligenciado por los investigadores por medio de la observación a las enfermeras durante la administración de medicamentos. Resultados: El 90.4 % de las enfermeras refirió que tenía conocimiento sobre las diferentes reacciones adversas que pueden presentar los medicamentos; el 53.8 % consideró suficiente la teoría y práctica adquirida en la universidad acerca de la farmacología; el 65.4 % manifestó que cuenta oportunamente con los insumos necesarios para administrar medicamentos. Conclusiones: Se encontró debilidades en el área de farmacología durante la formación universitaria, en la disponibilidad de insumos, en las entregas de turno y en los espacios destinados para la preparación de medicamentos. Un gran porcentaje conoce las reacciones adversas a medicamentos, pero tiene insuficiente conocimiento sobre términos farmacológicos como sinergismo y antagonismo. Objective: To describe knowledge related to aspects of the administration of medicines into nursing practice. Materials and methods: We conducted a descriptive study from March to May 2011 in three health institutions of Department of Atlántico, which estimated a convenience sample of 104 nurses, who were responsible for carrying out activities related to administration of medicines. We applied two questionnaires, one was answered by nurses in hospitals, and the second was completed by researchers through observation of nursing staff during the administration of medicines. Results: 90.4 % of nurses had knowledge about various adverse drugs reactions that may occur, 53.8 % considered sufficient theory and practice learned in college about pharmacology, 65.4 % reported that timely had the necessary materials in order to administer medication. Conclusions: There are weaknesses in the area of pharmacology knowledge from university training, the availability of hospital materials, in nursing handoff 'during change of shift and in the spaces for the preparation of medication. A large percentage of nurses know adverse drug reactions, but there is insufficient knowledge about pharmacological terminology such as synergism and antagonism.

Purpose To propose and validate an algorithm to analyze the reports of suspected therapeutic failure (TF) received in pharmacovigilance programs. Methods A Delphi consensus method with a group of 12 international experts was used to identify the different causes that prompt TF and to propose an algorithm to analyze reports of suspected lack of efficacy of medicines. A pilot analysis of 50 reports was the basis to evaluate the interrater and intrarater validity of the algorithm. Results A 10-question algorithm was proposed. The evaluation of 50 reports of suspected TF showed that only 8% could be actually attributed to a manufacturing quality problem, whereas the real reason underlying the alleged TF was the inappropriate use of the prescribed drug in 28%. Minimum information to attribute the cause to a TF was lacking in 31% of these reports. The interrater reliability was “moderate” (kappa coefficient=0.55), and the intrarater reliability ranged from 0.732 to 0.908 (“substantial” to “almost perfect”). Conclusions The proposed TF algorithm is a valid, reliable, and reproducible analysis tool that can help to disentangle the frequent and complex reports of suspected TF. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

To propose and validate an algorithm to analyze the reports of suspected therapeutic failure (TF) received in pharmacovigilance programs.A Delphi consensus method with a group of 12 international experts was used to identify the different causes that prompt TF and to propose an algorithm to analyze reports of suspected lack of efficacy of medicines. A pilot analysis of 50 reports was the basis to evaluate the interrater and intrarater validity of the algorithm.A 10-question algorithm was proposed. The evaluation of 50 reports of suspected TF showed that only 8% could be actually attributed to a manufacturing quality problem, whereas the real reason underlying the alleged TF was the inappropriate use of the prescribed drug in 28%. Minimum information to attribute the cause to a TF was lacking in 31% of these reports. The interrater reliability was "moderate" (kappa coefficient = 0.55), and the intrarater reliability ranged from 0.732 to 0.908 ("substantial" to "almost perfect").The proposed TF algorithm is a valid, reliable, and reproducible analysis tool that can help to disentangle the frequent and complex reports of suspected TF.