Title: A comparative study of prescribing and transcribing between the women hospital pharmacy and the ASHP: a benchmark approach

Authors: Salaheldin Ismail Salaheldin, Banan A. Mukhalalati

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, College of Commerce & Business Administration, Helwan University, Ain Helwan, P.O. Box 11795, Helwan, Egypt. ' Hamad Medical Corporation, P.O. Box 3050, Doha, Qatar

Abstract: The aim of this case study is to compare the performance of the Pharmacy Department in the Women Hospital of the Hamad Hospital Corporation (HMC) of Qatar, with that of the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) national survey in terms of prescribing and transcribing of drugs that was conducted in 2001. The methods used in this case study include observation, secondary data analysis and a comparison between the Women Hospital pharmacy figures with those of the ASHP survey which is considered to be an external benchmark as it contains a large number of hospitals that were chosen by stratified random sampling of total number of staffed beds. The results of this case study have shown that the role of pharmacists in the P&T committee needs to be extended to other vital activities. It is advisable to formalise and disseminate the results of drug use evaluation, educate prescribers about the cost of medications and to include more pharmacists attending the rounds with prescribers.

Keywords: benchmarking; drug prescriptions; transcribing drugs; ASHP; American Society of Health System Pharmacists; Qatar; comparative study; case study; hospital pharmacy departments; drug use evaluation; medicine costs; patient safety; healthcare quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJACMSD.2009.030661

International Journal of Arab Culture, Management and Sustainable Development, 2009 Vol.1 No.2, pp.177 - 194

Published online: 30 Dec 2009 *

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