Study of two-dimensional barcode prescription system for pharmacists' activities of NHI contracted pharmacy

To lower the cost and enhance the quality of healthcare service, the Taiwan government launched National Health Insurance (NHI) in 1995 and the System of Separation of Medicine and Pharmacy in 1997. After the separation of dispensing and prescribing (SDP), pharmacists in NHI-contracted pharmacies have the right to fill prescriptions from a clinic. This means that pharmacists in NHI-contracted pharmacies have four more activities than previously. How to improve the additional activities remains an issue to be solved. Today, in most countries, patients deliver a written prescription to the pharmacy of their choice. The pharmacist validates the prescription and dispenses the drug. In this paper, we describe an automatic data collection system, the two-dimensional barcode prescription system (2DBPS) for pharmacists. The system allows patients to deliver a paper prescription with a 2D barcode issued by a clinic to the pharmacy of their choice. The pharmacist scans in the 2D barcode, validates the prescription, and dispenses the drug. Evaluation of the 2DBPS showed that most pharmacists use it to execute additional activities and it was more efficient than before. Moreover, the easy-to-use 2DBPS is accepted and appreciated by pharmacists. We can thus conclude that the aim of the 2DBPS is to reduce the workload of pharmacist in data processing. It will help pharmacists to expand their role beyond simple dispensing and data processing to providing pharmaceutical care services.