Development of a Medication Management Reporting System for Methylphenidate (Ritalin 10 mg) to Enhance Efficiency of Monitoring and Control at Nakhon Phanom Rajanagarindra Psychiatric Hospital.

Abstract

This study was a Research and Development (R&D) project aimed at developing and evaluating the effectiveness of a reporting management system for Methylphenidate (Ritalin 10 mg), a Schedule II psychotropic substance commonly prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The existing manual system, which relied on handwritten records and Excel spreadsheets, had significant limitations in terms of accuracy, timeliness, and workload. The new system was developed using the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework, comprising five phases: (1) Requirement Analysis, (2) System Design, (3) System Development, (4) Testing and Evaluation, and (5) Implementation and Maintenance. The participants were 10 personnel directly involved in medication reporting, including pharmacists, medical record officers, and physicians, selected through purposive sampling. Data collection instruments included time logs for report preparation, error logs, and user satisfaction questionnaires. Descriptive statistics (mean, percentage, and standard deviation) were used to compare system performance before and after implementation. The results indicated that the new system reduced reporting errors from 14.8% to 2.3% and shortened report preparation time from 5 hours to only 30 minutes per month. Moreover, users expressed highly positive feedback and overall satisfaction with the system.