Characteristics and Economic Impact of Using Prescription Notes Determined from Pharmaceutical Audits of Prescriptions

-Analysis of Pharmaceutical Intervention Records-

Abstract

Focusing on the Pharmaceutical Intervention Records (PIR) project, a collaboration between the Gifu Pharmaceutical Association and Gifu Pharmaceutical University, this study analyzed the characteristics and economic impact of prescription notes by using data from pharmaceutical audits of prescriptions. The pharmacists registered audit data for 1,105 prescriptions in the PIR database in 2017. For the analysis, we divided the 1,105 prescriptions into a subject group (those that used prescription notes) and a control group (comprising other prescriptions). The reduction in drug cost per prescription was 1,422 yen in the subject group, which was significantly greater than that in the control group (960 yen). In the subject group, pharmacists tended to find a reason to reduce prescription drugs, such as duplications and contraindications for combination. A high ratio of drug cancellation resulted from such inquiries. This was considered a significant factor in the reduction of drug costs in the group using prescription notes. The cancellation of drugs is a requirement for the prevention of duplications and the interactions of prescription drugs; therefore, pharmacists additionally tended to assess this addition in the subject group.