Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals


The Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals is a taxonomy focused on defining and grouping together situations requiring a referral from pharmacists to physicians regarding the pharmacotherapy used by the patients. It has been published in 2008. It is bilingual: English/Spanish.
It is a simple and efficient classification of pharmaco-therapeutic referrals between physicians and pharmacists permitting a common inter-professional language. It is adapted to any type of referrals among health professionals, and to increase its specificity it can be combined with ATC codes, ICD-10, and ICPC-2 PLUS.
It is a part of the MEDAFAR Project, whose objective is to improve, through different scientific activities, the coordination processes between physicians and pharmacists working in primary health care.

Supporting institutions

It is structured in 4 chapters and 38 rubrics. The terminology used follows the rules of ICPC-2.
Each rubric consists in an alphanumeric code and each title of the rubric is expressed and explained by:
– A series of terms related with the title of the rubric.
– A definition expressing the meaning of the rubric.
– A list of inclusion criteria and another list with exclusion criteria to select and qualify the contents corresponding to a rubric.
– Some example to illustrate every term.
It also includes a glossary of 51 terms defined by consensus, an alphabetical index with 350 words used in the rubrics; and a standardized model of inter-professional referral form, to facilitate referrals from community pharmacists to primary care physicians.

Classification of Pharmaco-Therapeutic Referrals MEDAFAR

E. Effectiveness / efficiency