[The role of pharmacotherapy audit in the improvement of drug therapy during inpatient rehabilitation care. Experience at the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation, Hungary].
Pharmacotherapy is one of the most important and dangerous area in hospital health care, that explains why innumerable efforts are made worldwide to improve this process and prevent mistakes. Although clinical audit is a well known and widely used method, it is very rarely used for this purpose and scientific papers dealing with this topic can be scarcely found. In the last 20 years different quality management systems were introduced into the Hungarian hospitals, but most of them are not specific for the medical care. The most important element of quality management systems is the internal, professional audit that serves patient safety.


OBJECTIVE
Authors report their experience on pharmacotherapy audits performed for over a decade at the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation, Hungary. They review the method of audit meetings in details and discuss the most frequent problems.


RESULTS
The results indicate that characteristics of therapeutic mistakes in the rehabilitation practice are similar to those reported in scientific literature.


CONCLUSIONS
Improving knowledge on pharmacotherapy audits of rehabilitation specialists may be an important part of continuous professional advancement providing facility for dispute on other issues of patient care.
Országos Orvosi Rehabilitációs Intézet Budapest Szanatórium u. 19. 1528. eboros@enternet.hu
Erzsébet
E
Boros
István
I
Szél
Zoltán
Z
Dénes
D000700:Analgesics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000008:administration & dosage; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006814:Hungary; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007297:Inpatients; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
D000700:Analgesics; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D000925:Anticoagulants; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents