OBJECTIVES: To evaluate a pharmaceutical care programme for COPD patients in a hospital setting including patient education. METHODS: Patients with COPD were enrolled in a prospective study during hospital stay (average 7,6 days) and followed a structured pharmaceutical care programme including three training sessions of a total average time of 83 minutes concerning the disease itself, drug therapy, breathing exercises, nutrition and in some cases smoking cessation. Data of patients were collected on 3 occasions (admission, after discharge, follow up 6 months after release from hospital) to investigate the effects of pharmaceutical care including health related quality of life (assessed by generic questionnaire SF-36 an COPD-specific questionnaire St George's Respiratory Questionnaire, SGRQ), patient knowledge, inhalation technique and reduction of hospital days as well as number of re-admissions. RESULTS: One-hundred, five patients (47 male, 58 female, mean age 69.9, SD 6.6) who had received a structured pharmaceutical care programme showed improved scores in a pre-post comparison with regard to knowledge, self management, inhalation techniques and quality of life (SF-36, SGRQ). Compared with data from a pneumonological ward and all other hospital units the number of hospital days as well as the number of re-admissions were significantly lower for the study population. The follow-up 6 months after hospital release revealed that the level of knowledge was difficult to maintain especially for those patients who did not receive pharmaceutical care in their community pharmacy. CONCLUSION: Structured pharmaceutical care programmes are effective even during a short stay in hospital with regard to several outcome parameters. However, the results can only be maintained when there is an outreach into ambulatory care through community pharmacies.