How Many Prescriptions from Different Medical Institutions Does a Patient Take to a Single Community Pharmacy?

Abstract

In Nagasaki Prefecture, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the status of "Family Pharmacy" in terms of medication management. On the specified day, information about the pharmacy and its patients was collected. Information on 16,238 patients was provided by 325 pharmacies out of 720 by responding to the survey. Based on the patient＇s medication histories, over 20％ of the patients that visited a pharmacy had prescriptions from more than one medical institution. This percentage increased with age. The percentage of patients who take maintenance medication for multiple chronic stages such as: hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and dementia, was 6.8％ for the forties age group and 16.3％ for the fifties age group. It reached about 25％ for 60 and older. This survey showed that the number of patients who visited pharmacies with multiple disease states that required medication management, including drug interactions, increased corresponding with age. More effective medication management is required for the elderly aged 75 and older that have a decline in their physical function. We need to further study the role and evaluation of the "Family Pharmacy" from the benefit of medication management for patients with multiple chronic diseases.