Abstract
Engaru-Kosei General Hospital created a protocol for simplifying inquiries when shifting from in-hospital prescriptions to out-of-hospital prescriptions. Therefore, we examined the effects of this protocol based on the prescription content before the transition. Between January and March 2018, there were 12,861 patients aged 59.5 ± 24.7 years, 55.6% of whom were over 65 years old. The number of prescriptions was 28,052 and the average number of drugs was 3.2 ± 2.6. The number of prescriptions for which inquiries were made was 4,020. The time required for simulated question inquiry was 75.4 ± 20.5 seconds/case, which was approximately 84.1 hours in 3 months when calculated using the 4,020 cases of question inquiry. The protocol made it possible to efficiently carry out inquiries about concerns over the shift to out-of-hospital prescriptions, and reduced the workload of doctors and patient waiting time at insurance-specified pharmacies. In the future, it will be important for local medical staff to continue to be involved in drug therapy for patients while utilizing protocol-based drug therapy management.
