Article Text
Abstract
Background In December of 2010 the Health System of Andalucía (Spain) approved new dispensing procedures for some drugs; this group included medicines used in infertility treatments and oral antineoplastic drugs. Prior to this reform these products were dispensed in Community Pharmacy, but now with the new arrangements they are dispensed in the Hospital Pharmacy.
Purpose The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and financial impact of this new activity in the Outpatients Unit in a Hospital Pharmacy.
Materials and methods The study period was from January to September of 2011. Using the computer program in the Outpatients Unit The authors assessed the increase in the number of patients, workload in the Outpatients Unit and the cost of these drugs.
Results The number of patients was 461 (14.2% of the total number of patients in this period). The cost of these treatments was 717,244.02 euros. (8.7% of the total cost of dispensed drugs in this period). Comparing with the same period in 2010 the increase in expenditure was 476,623.77 euros.
Conclusions The expenditure of the Pharmacy Hospital increased with the new drugs dispensed in the Outpatients Unit. On the other hand by dispensing these drugs The authors improved the quality of dispensing and passed on more information about the drugs to these patients.