title: [Difficulties in the transfer of drug therapy from inpatient to ambulatory treatment].
abstract: The prospective study compares prescribed drugs of 192 primarily cardiological patients at discharge and 7 weeks later in ambulatory care. The data were determined by discharge summaries and by standardized patient-questionnaires. The drug division was made with the ATC-classification according to the recommendations of the World Health Organisation for Drug Utilisation Studies. The intraindividual cost comparison was calculated by current pharmacy sale prices. The findings were changes in hospital discharge medications in ambulatory care in over 2/3 of the cases. The most frequent change was the additional prescribing of drug groups. The average daily tablet number increased in patients with the same or worsened subjective feeling after discharge. Additionally we found in a number of patients a change of drug therapy within the ATC-groups, or in fact, withdrawal of drug therapy all together. The frequency of changes increased with the number of patient/doctor contacts. The observation that the average daily therapeutical cost decreased just slightly could give an indication that cost saving was a minor part of the doctors decision for drug changing. However, the frequency of changes has shown to be dependent upon the specialities of the physician or pharmaceutical group.
authors.affiliation: Arbeitsgruppe Klinische Gesundheitsökonomie und Qualitätssicherung, Klinik III für Innere Medizin der Universität zu Köln.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adl
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Weltermann
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Küching
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Korbonits
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Höpp
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics; D003363:Cost Control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000191:economics
chemical_list: D002317:Cardiovascular Agents
vernacular_title: Pharmakotherapeutische Transferproblematik von stationärer zu ambulanter Versorgung.