Need for Prescription Suggestions for Long-term Inpatients in the Psychiatric Ward

• Published in: YAKUGAKU ZASSHI (Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan) Vol. 140; no. 8; pp. 1025 - 1033
• Main Authors: Shin, Kenji, Kobayashi, Daisuke, Kawashiri, Takehiro, Ushijima, Yuichi, Moritaka, Keita, Yanai, Hiroshi, Ichiki, Yuko, Murakami, Aya, Kanazawa, Yasunori, Kamimura, Hidetoshi, Shimazoe, Takao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: Pharmaceutical Society of Japan 01-08-2020
• ISSN: 0031-6903; 1347-5231
• DOI: 10.1248/yakushi.19-00240

Additional fees for ward pharmacists' services have been valued for hospitals in Japan. However, the calculation period for services provided to inpatients in the psychiatric ward is limited to 8 weeks. This study aimed to reveal the need for the services of pharmacists in the hospital ward for inpatients hospitalized for > 8 weeks in the psychiatric ward. Patients who were hospitalized in the psychiatric ward from September 2016 to February 2017 were analyzed retrospectively. The pharmacists suggested prescriptions for inpatients admitted for > 8 weeks, similar to those admitted for < 9 weeks, and this supported pharmacotherapy without exacerbating patient outcomes. Moreover, significant decreases in benzodiazepine doses were found between the prior and post prescription suggestions of the pharmacist for inpatients > 8 weeks of admission. Healthcare expenditures were also reduced. These results suggest that the prescriptions suggested by pharmacists for inpatients admitted for > 8 weeks in the psychiatric ward were useful. In conclusion, our findings show that ward pharmacists' services were necessary not only for the inpatients hospitalized for < 9 weeks, but also for those hospitalized for > 8 weeks.