Standardization Consensus of a Hospital Drug Database: An Efficient Tool

Although the electronic prescribing software is the same for all hospitals of a regional health service, each has its own drug database, which it is responsible for maintaining. The aim of this study was to develop a consensus to standardize the hospital drug database of the electronic prescribing software, and to apply this tool to the electronic prescribing system of an oncology outpatient clinic of a Spanish tertiary-level hospital. Additionally, we sought to analyze the impact of the implemented actions on the health care services provided.

This was a prospective study carried out over a period of 15 months by a group of pharmacists representing all Organizational Integrated Management Systems of a regional health service, and coordinated by the General Subdirectorate of Pharmaceuticals.

A total of 500 drugs and 500 active pharmaceutical ingredients included in the hospital drug database were standardized to implement the electronic prescribing system in the oncology outpatient clinic. The implementation of such standardization process yielded a 70% decrease in medication errors. In the satisfaction survey concerning the usefulness of the tall-man letters implemented in the electronic prescribing system, the interviewed doctors reported the highest levels of satisfaction.

The creation of consensus documents to standardize the hospital drug database served to unify the information available in the regional hospital pharmacy services of an autonomous community. In addition, the implementation of the electronic prescribing system in the oncology outpatient clinic of a tertiary-level hospital resulted in a decrease in the number of medication errors.