Current State of Drug Information Services in Japan

Based on a Hospital Survey in Kamgawa Prefecture

Abstract

The rapid growth of pharmaceutical care in Japan has resulted in the need for a new clinical support system for drug information (DI) services. The DI committee of the Kanagawa Society of Hospital Pharmacists conducted a survey of hospitals in 1997-1998. The purpose of the survey was to determine such things as the number of pharmacists actually working in DI, the number of hospitals publishing a DI newsletter and also the number of hospitals utilizing computer automation in their DI programs. The survey consisted of 16 questions that were mailed to 353 hospital pharmacies, out of which 155 responses were returned. The results of the survey were compared to the findings of a similar study performed in 1996. One hundred-two of the 155 pharmacies (66%) indicated that they had a DI-room within their facility. Eighty-five percent of the facilities had their own hospital formulary. In addition many (56.8%) of the DI-rooms had a computer system, but on the other hand only 11.0% of all institutions used it for computer communication and literature seachs such as for MEDLINE. As changes occur in the medical environment, the DI related job should respond accordingly. An average citizen can now access much DI through the Internet, but the qualify of that information may be suspect. The problem today is how to encourage the hospital pharmacies to also access the Internet and both use and evaluate the huge amount of DI that is to be found there.