Introduction of an Audit System to Maintain and Improve Quality in both Pharmaceutical Management and Counseling Services

Abstract

We have recently instituted an audit system with the goal of maintaining and improving quality in pharmaceutical management and counseling services, i.e., pharmaceutical care practices. This system was created to improve the quality of record keeping for counseling services. The audit system is composed of 5 supervising pharmacists. A meeting is held once a month, and an audit is carried out concerning the patient compliance instruction documents, medication history and practice records of 2 clinical departments. In addition, methods for improving business efficiency are also discussed. We herein report on the specific guidance given to the supervising pharmacists of each clinical department, based on a total of 12 audit conferences. As a result, four problems were identified : (1) fundamental description issues, (2) record keeping modes, (3) insurance demands, (4) pharmaceutical perspective. The following improvements were instituted after notifying the relevant pharmacists and all other pharmacy staff of these problems : a reduction in the leakage of specific items, corrections of the records explaining the pharmacological effects, establishment of a drug interaction checklist, simplification of laboratory data records, simplification of the format, utilization of a problem list field, and other issues. The role of this audit system in maintaining and improving the quality of pharmaceutical management and counseling services has become increasingly important because as the counseling services for patients continue to expand.