Background In a tumour specialised hospital, the proportion of tumour inpatients is high, and off-label drug usage is common. In addition, there are drug interactions and compatibility issues, as well as unreasonable use of drugs. Thus several prescription review software systems are used in tumour specialised hospitals. iPHARMACARE, a drug rational use management system, different from existing clinical decision support systems, has a strong medication rule engine, and pharmacists can design individualised rules according to clinical medication guides. The control level of the iPHARMACARE drug rational use management system is divided into 8 levels; once unreasonable prescriptions are set to level 8, doctors must modify them correctly or otherwise these prescriptions will not be saved and executed. Other levels give reminders displayed in a different colour, but doctors can still save the prescription.

Purpose To analysis the application of the iPHARMACARE drug rational use management system in our hospital.

Material and methods The number of unqualified prescriptions, rules of level 8 and intercepted prescriptions were collected, covering the period from 2013 to 2015. The rate of unqualified prescriptions was then analysed and compared.

Results Since the introduction of the software in 2013, clinical pharmacists have set 134 level 8 rules, including 10 incompatibility rules, 43 improper solvent selection rules, 15 overdose limit rules, 32 super indications medication rules, 19 route of administration rules and other 15 rules. 881 unreasonable doctor’s prescriptions were intercepted during the 3 years, of which 76% were antineoplastic agents or adjuvant antineoplastic agents related prescriptions. As a result, the rate of unqualified prescription has decreased year by year, from 9.8% to 4.3%. It is worth mentioning that the antineoplastic agents’ prescriptions had solvent selection errors or exceeded the concentration range specified in the instructions almost never, and overdose prescriptions of adjuvant antineoplastic agents were also significantly decreased.

Conclusion The application of the iPHARMACARE drug rational use management system in our hospital has provided effective guidance and reminders for doctors when prescribing, significantly improved the rate of reasonable prescriptions and increased medication safety for patients.

No conflict of interest