Open AccessQUALITY AND COST SAVING OF USING PATIENT’S OWN MEDICINES IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY WARD OF HOSPITAL SUNGAI BAKAP, PULAU PINANG, MALAYSIA
Author(s) -
A Kuganesswari,
Pappu Rama Subramaniam,
Amirah Azman,
Kiren Sharma,
Noorsuhada Shaarani,
Nor Azrena Suhaida Jalauddin,
Teh Shih Chie
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
malaysian journal of pharmaceutical sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2180-429X
pISSN - 1675-7319
DOI - 10.21315/mjps2021.19.1.4
Subject(s) - medicine , microsoft excel , observational study , expiration date , quality (philosophy) , pharmacoeconomics , family medicine , emergency medicine , intensive care medicine , philosophy , chemistry , food science , epistemology , computer science , operating system
Patient's Own Medicines (POMs) are medicines that were prescribed by the doctor or bought by patient and had been brought to hospital for treatment in ward. Patients were advised to bring POMs for better continuation of treatment. The objectives of this study were to assess the quality of POMs and determine the cost saving of POMs in multidisciplinary wards of Hospital Sungai Bakap (HSB). A prospective observational study was conducted from 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2019. The participation involved all patients admitted to the multidisciplinary wards that brought their own medicines during the study period. The quality of the medications was assessed by clinical pharmacists prior to be used as POMs. The criteria includes the name of medicine, strength, date of supplied, name and address of original supplier, physical appearance, colour, expiration date, batch number, date of opening for insulin and its storage. Data were collected using data collection form and were analysed using Microsoft Excel. As for the results, from the total patients that brought POMs, 136 (61%) were from male ward and 88 (39%) from female ward. Most of the patients that brought POMs were from middle age group, 60–69 years old (28.6%). However, when compared to the total number of admission, patient from age group 70–79 years old has the highest percentage of patients that brought POMs (8.85%). In terms of quality, clinical pharmacists found a total of 1,022 medications that have the quality required to be considered and were used as POMs. The total cost of savings was RM4,961.90. In conclusion, a standard checklist of quality criteria to assess POMs can be developed and used in each hospital settings to ensure more systematic assessment of POMs brought by patients. Awareness campaigns on POMs should be promoted to increase more awareness among patient and health care providers.