Evaluation of Drug Consumption and Introduction of Positive Lists

Overview

Background.
The introduction of positive drug lists (positive lists)is part of the regulating mechanisms whichtry to reduce the increasing expenditure on drugs. An essential part of these provisionsis at present an analysis ofthe trend of drug consumption. The objective of the work was to introduce and evaluate themethod DU 90% whichin analyses of drug consumption uses a 90% ratio of preparations of their totalconsumption.Methods and Results. The analysis was focused on prescriptions in medicalclinics of the General Faculty Hospital.Classification of drugs according to anatomical, therapeutic and chemical groups and theuse of defined daily dosesmade it possible to calculate DU 90% and to prepare a consecutive list of drugs accordingto costs in differentdepartments.The number of drugs with a defined daily dose was within the range of 280-316. In theinterval DU 90% were116-142 drugs. In all departments there was a practically identical ratio of drugs whichwere part of the positive list.The greatest expenditure were anti-infectious drugs for systemic use and drugs with aneffect on blood andhaematopoietic organs.Conclusions. The advantages of the method DU 90% is its easy application,low cost and possibility to identifycontroversial fields. This facilitates further qualitative and quantitative evaluation ofthe standard of pharmacothe-rapy.

Key words:
positive lists, drug consumption.