Viral diarrhoea epidemic--impact on a small island pharmacy

This short paper describes the increased demands on the pharmacy department of Majuro Hospital in the Marshall Islands during a recent viral diarrhoea epidemic. This paper discusses the increased number of patients, the increased usage of drugs and also the increased costs during this epidemic. Surprisingly, the number of patients only rose 10%. However, the increase in workload of the outpatient department, laboratory and the pharmacy department was much greater. The percentage of children presenting to the outpatient department with diarrhoea increased from 10% to 80%. Oral rehydration solution (ORS) was the most common medication given during the epidemic in line with the World Health Organisation Guidelines.