[Promotion of home medical care and ways to provide medicines to patients at home].
The Medicare Security Law and Fee Schedule for Medical Services have undergone revisions in accordance with the changes in society, and these were introduced on the premise that home medical care be promoted. If home medical care is promoted, it is expected that a considerable proportion of persons who are now hospitalized and depend heavily on medicare will be transferred home, partly because of the shortening of the maximum insured hospitalization time. Thus, it will become necessary to provide medicines including injectables such as TPN to patients at home. Generally speaking, medicines for patients at home are provided by nearby pharmacists based on prescriptions written by the physician in charge of a patient. However, with regard to injectables such as TPN that require aseptic environments for preparation, such requirements can not yet be met satisfactorily owing to a shortage of sufficient provisions at pharmacies and of sufficient technical skills on the part of pharmacists. Currently, there are only 27 pharmacies which are officially recognized as being sufficiently equipped to prepare injectables in aseptic environments, and pharmacists who actually prepare TPN drugs in aseptic environments account for about one third of this number. The current number of pharmacists will obviously not meet the demand for medicines from patients at home, which will undergo a sharp rise in the near future. Accordingly, it is essential to increase the number of pharmacists nationwide who are sufficiently equipped to manage injectables such as TPN in aseptic conditions.
Kushida
K
K
Showa College of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Chikuma
T
T
D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based; D006801:Humans; D016562:Parenteral Nutrition, Home Total; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000600:supply & distribution