National Survey of Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee in Saudi Arabia: Meetings, Organization, and Management

Objective: Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee (PTC) is required for the effective running of a hospital. In the beginning, there was no such concept of drug committee, but with the advent of time, the need for an effective PTC started increasing. In the PTC, the pharmacist, physicians and nurses play an important role, in addition to the presence of an administrative. This study aims to explore the importance of having effective meetings organization and management of PTC at Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The purpose of this study was to explore the meetings organization and management of PTC at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional national survey of PTC at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of two parts: the first part collected demographic information and the second part consisted of 93 questions divided into four domains: Domain 1: the scope, structure and responsibilities; domain 2: the formulary management system; domain 3: evaluation of drug formulary and decision-making; and domain 4: organization and management of committee meetings. This questionnaire was prepared in an electronic format and was distributed all drug information centers at MOH hospitals. It analyzed organization and management of committee meetings through Survey Monkey system. Results: A total of 50 drug information centers responded to the questionnaire (100% response rate). The person leads the discussion in PTC was a Chairman of the Committee (29 (58%)), Chief of Pharmacy (13 (26%)) and Director of Drug Information (3 (6%)). The number of scheduled meetings per year (1–4) was 18 (36%) per hospital with a duration (1-2 hrs) at 48 (96%). Most of discussions were related to medications of infectious diseases (26 (52%)) and cardiovascular diseases (21 (42%)). Most of the challenging recommendations that needed implementation was a lack of resources (37 (74%)), lack of hospital administrator support (23 (46%)) and lack of pharmacist role (18 (36%)). Conclusion: The PTC is a demanding scientific resource and administrative support. Total quality management system, workload analysis, positive outcomes of PTC were lacking. Special education and training needs to be provided to all the healthcare providers with hospital administrator’s support.

National Survey of Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee in Saudi Arabia: Evaluation of Drug Formulary and Decision-Making

Objective: Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in Saudi Arabia should develop, organize and administer a formulary system that follows the principles to optimize patient care by ensuring access to clinically appropriate, safe and cost-effective medications. This can be achieved through the Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee’s (PTC) role in the evaluation of hospital’s drug formulary and decision-making. The primary purposes of the PTC are policy development, communication and education and formulary management. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to explore the hospital drug formulary evaluation and decision-making at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional national survey of PTC at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of two parts: the first part collected demographic information and the second part consisted on 93 questions divided into four domains. An electronic survey was distributed to all drug information centers at MOH hospitals and analyzed the evaluation of drug formulary and decision-making through the Survey Monkey system. Results: A total of 50 drug information centers responded to the questionnaire (100%). Restricted drug usage (3.88), new drug entities (3.74), new dosage form (3.6) and new strength (3.6) were the majority of the requests for inclusion in the formulary. A total of 1-3 medications were evaluated monthly by the PTC at 41 (82%) hospitals. Most of the healthcare providers were allowed to request for the addition or deletion of medications: PTC members 38 (76%), attending medical staff 35 (70%), pharmacy staff 10 (20%) and formulary subcommittees 10 (20%). The formal economic analysis of the drug formulary revision was rarely or never conducted at 26 (42%) hospitals. The responsible person for the economic evaluation was drug information pharmacist (21 (42%)), pharmacy department (nonspecific) (17 (34%)) and the pharmacy and medical department (14 (28%)). Conclusion: Evaluation of hospital’s drug formulary and decision-making was not adequate at the majority of the hospitals. Education and training about drug evaluation with an emphasis on cost analysis and impact are mandatory. An electronic addition new medications with close formulary is required with close monitoring for all MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

National Survey of Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee in Saudi Arabia: Formulary Management System

Objective: Formulary management is an integrated patient care process which enables physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals to work together to promote clinically sound cost-effective medication therapy and positive therapeutic outcomes. Effective use of healthcare resources can minimize overall medical costs, improve patient access to more affordable care and provide an improved quality of life. A formulary not only includes a list of medications and medication-associated products but also includes medication-use policies, important ancillary drug information, decision support tools and organizational guidelines. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to provide the guiding principles for the Formulary Management System at Ministry of Health (MOH) hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This is a 4-month cross-sectional national survey of Pharmacy and Therapeutic Committee at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The survey consisted of two parts: the first part collected demographic information and the second part contained 93 questions divided into four domains. The scope, structure and responsibilities, the formulary management system, the evaluation of drug formulary and decision-making and the committee meetings organization and management. The electronic survey was distributed to 50 drug information centers at MOH hospitals. It analyzed the formulary management system at MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia through Survey Monkey system. Results: A total of 50 drug information centers responded to our questionnaire. The statement with highest score was related to the committee formulary system of medications usage through ensuring the safety of prescribing, distribution, administration and monitoring of medications (3.8); the process for managing drug product shortages (3.76); and the medications are requested for the addition or deletion from the drug formulary (3.68). Most of the hospitals had an open drug formulary (30 (60%)), with remaining responders having closed drug formulary (20 (40%)) with the total number of medications in the drug formulary (300–899) at 32 (64%) of the responded hospitals. The average score of type of method related to drug usage evaluation statements was 3.36, with the statement with high average score was review of medication error report (3.94) and review of medication sentinel incident reports (3.48), whereas the statement with lowest score was an investigational drug therapy approved (2.88). Conclusion: Two-thirds of the hospitals had open drug formulary. Drug utilization evaluation system should review for the majority of the hospital. update the formulary management system required with close monitoring for all MOH hospitals in Saudi Arabia.