Evaluation of pharmacists' inquiries about prescriptions

——Quantitative evaluation of improvement in the quality of care and economic contribution——

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the influence of the absence of pharmacists' inquiries about prescriptions on the treatment and length of hospital stay and the resulting health care costs, and thereby to evaluate the contribution of pharmacists' inquiries about prescriptions to the quality of care and their economic effects.
The study involved 148 cases of inquiries about prescriptions made by pharmacists during the 12-week survey period at a hospital in Tokyo. The Delphi method was used to increase the accuracy of estimating the influence of the absence of inquiries about prescriptions on the treatment and length of hospital stay, and the reduced health resource costs were evaluated on the basis of the sum of the individual health care costs.
The results revealed that the resultant increase in the length of hospital stay was 190 days, including prolongation of the length of hospital stay and the length of rehospitalization, in 43 cases. In addition, health care costs reduced by inquiries about prescriptions were estimated to be 750,000 to 1,900,000 yen. The contribution of inquiries about prescriptions could be quantified using health care costs, which confirmed the favorable contribution of pharmacists to the quality of care and medical economics.