THE SATISFACTION OF PHYSICIANS AND PHARMACISTS ON THE EFFICIENCY OF COMPUTERIZED ALERT SYSTEM FOR SCREENING HIGH-RISK DRUGS FOR THAI ELDERLY IN COMMUNITY HOSPITALS

Abstract

In an aging society, most of the old patients have had polypharmacy and might take high-risk medication and face its adverse effect. The computerized alert system is needed to remind health prescribers on a high-risk drug for the elderly. This mixed-method research, qualitative and quantitative, aimed to evaluate physicians’ and pharmacists’ satisfaction on the efficiency of the 2-month computerized alert system implemented for screening high-risk drugs in the Thai elderly. After the 2-month implementation of this system in three community hospitals, Northeast Thailand, 8 physicians and 3 pharmacists who involved and used this alert system were surveyed with a self-administered questionnaire and interviewed their satisfaction on the system. The efficiency of the alert system was retrieved from the hospital database of 1,127 prescriptions, and a reduction of a number of high-risk drugs per prescription was recorded.

After 2-month of implementing the alert system, there was a significant reduction of a number of prescribed high-risk drugs such as diazepam, amitriptyline, colchicine, 50.5±60.17 and 43.6±61.22 tablets/prescription respectively (p<0.001). 11 Physicians and pharmacists were 6 males (54.5%) and 5 females (45.5%). Their average age was 29.9±4.93 years. They have had work experience in the hospital with an average year of 4.3±2.23. They were satisfied with the efficiency of the alert system with an average of 4.0±0.45 from 5 scores or 80%. Most of them (54.5%) showed a high level of satisfaction on the concise and clear information of making a decision on the computerized alert system. 54.5% of users were satisfied with the benefit of the alert system on patient safety. 45.5% was dissatisfied with the computer scene color and system attractiveness. the interviewed data showed the same trend.

From the survey and interview, the users of a 2-month implemented computerized alert system were satisfied at a high level and the system could significantly reduce the number of prescribed high-risk drugs for the Thai elderly. The alert system for screening high-risk drugs in the elderly should be generalized and recommended to use in all hospitals.