An evaluation of adherence to society of pharmacists' standards care in pharmacy information systems in Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Pharmacy information system (PIS) is a complex computerized system used for collecting, storing, and managing the medication therapy data in the course of patients' care. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of adherence to the standards established by the societies of pharmacists in the PISs employed in the hospitals in Isfahan, Iran. Methods: The present study was an applied, descriptive-analytical study conducted on the PISs of 19 teaching, private and social insurance hospitals in Isfahan in 2011. Study population consisted of the PISs available in the hospitals under study. Study sample was the same as the study population. The data collection instrument was a self-developed checklist based on the guidelines of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, whose validity was assessed and confirmed by expert professors' views. Having been collected by observation and interview methods, data were analyzed by SPSS 18 software using Mann-Whitney statistical test. Results: The findings of the study revealed that the highest rank in adherence to the standards of societies of pharmacists was obtained by social services hospitals (32.75), while the private hospitals obtained the lowest rank (23.32). Conclusions: Based on the findings, in the PISs in the hospitals under study, some standards of the society of pharmacists were ignored. Hence, prior to designing and implementing PIS, a needs analysis is required to increase its users' motivation to identify the system potentialities and to allow the system development in compliance with the world technology advancement.