Development of a Rational Drug Use for Clinics in Ranong Province

Abstract

This Research and Development Research (R&D) aimed to: (1) investigate situations and problems of rational drug use (RDU) at clinics; and (2) to find a model clinic for rational drug use in Ranong province

The study involved 53 clinic operators. Data were collected using a rational drug use self-assessment questionnaire for Private Clinic that do not accept patients for overnight stays, the researcher developed from a self-assessment questionnaire of the Bureau of Hospital and Medical Practice.; the questionnaire-related coefficients were 0.6–1.0 for IOC, 0.34–0.79 for discriminatory power, and 0.908 for Cronbach alpha or reliability. Data analysis included descriptive statistics to determine frequency and percentage and focus group discussions study in 9 clinic owners, and 7 officials responsible for the hospital work analyzed the data using content analysis. The implementation period is in fiscal year 2021-2022. The results indicated that: (1) concerning the RDU situations and problems at clinics, mostly medical clinics and specialized medical clinics, most of the clinic owners acknowledged and agreed with the overall RDU principles at a moderate level; The problems and cause of most clinics is the system of allergy notification The drug allergy notification system still be manual system not yet an electronic system. Second is the problem of developing drug labels, supplementary drug labels, and drug information to the public (drug labels do not tell patients the strength of the drug they are giving. no extra label) and problems in collecting and developing various recommendations that helps to use the drug in group of patients (Various recommendations have not been made for each special group of patients.) Such problems lead to the development of the RDU system for clinics in Ranong province was had six key elements: (a) Pharmacy and therapeutics committee strengthening involving clinic operators as core members; (b) Labeling and leaflet for patients prepared according to the requirements of the Drug Label Standards for private health facilities; (c) Essential RDU tools provided for reviewing lists of medications commonly used by patients, informing the patients to bring the same medicines every time when coming for treatment, using a computer when making examination and treatment, and creating advisory sheets for common diseases in medical practice; (d) Awareness of RDU principles raised among medical personnel and patients by posting publicity or warning signs on antibiotic prescription at the clinics; (e) Special population group’s medication for patient safety by refraining from prescribing duplicate medicines that easily cause patient harm; and (f) Ethics in prescription by refraining from prescribing secret drug formulas and not allowing other people other than the doctor to prescribe the drugs.(2) The role model clinics for rational drug use in Ranong that passed the standard assessment are 2 clinics