[Evaluation of Capturing Accurate HbA1c Value Using Medical Information and Communication Technology by Pharmacist]

Actual status of patient information sharing among healthcare delivery facilities: a survey by the third subcommittee, committee on academic research, the Japanese society of hospital pharmacists

Background

Information sharing among medical professionals is important for providing quality medical care. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the actual status of information sharing between hospitals and other healthcare delivery facilities by surveying information sharing among the pharmaceutical departments of Japanese hospitals in 2020 conducted by the Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists.

Methods

Responses were received from 3612 (43.6%) of the 8278 target medical institutions between May 2020 and August 2020.

Results

The proportions of hospitals that shared information with community pharmacies, other hospitals, and long-term nursing homes were 40.6%, 36.4%, and 27.3%, respectively. While tracing reports were the most common tool used by hospitals for information sharing with community pharmacies (54.3%), drug summaries were used for sharing information with other hospitals and long-term nursing homes (77.4% and 78.0%, respectively). The proportion of hospitals sharing information with community pharmacies and other hospitals showed a tendency to increase as the number of hospital beds increased. No relationship could be established between the number of hospital beds and the proportion of hospitals sharing information with long-term nursing homes.

Conclusion

Information between hospitals and community pharmacies was shared primarily using tracing reports, whereas information between hospitals and other hospitals and long-term nursing homes was primarily shared via drug summaries.

Assessment of Information Sharing on Adverse Drug Reactions by Community Pharmacies with Other Medical Institutions

Widespread coordination and sharing of information regarding adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are important for drug safety assessment. However, the actual status of coordination and sharing of information on ADRs in community pharmacies remains unclear. Therefore, a survey was conducted at community pharmacies to analyze the status. In this cross-sectional study conducted from 31 March 2021 to 9 April 2021, a request letter with the uniform resource locator of the questionnaire form was sent to 302 community pharmacies affiliated with Tsuruha Holdings Inc., and the responses were obtained online. The response rate for the questionnaires was 80.8% (n = 244). In total, 20.9% of the community pharmacies provided information on patients’ ADRs to hospitals or clinics prescribing drugs. None of the community pharmacies provided patient ADR information to other community pharmacies. Of the community pharmacies, 98.8% felt that insufficient information was available to monitor ADRs from hospitals or clinics prescribing drugs. For example, the name of the disease (67.6%), considered to be the most common information, was insufficiently provided. Overall, the existing system for providing information on ADRs between community pharmacies and other medical institutions is insufficient and needs to be developed further.