title: [The role of the cytostatic drugs unit in rationalization of hospital drugs management--the case study and the analysis of drug utilization].
abstract: Until recently, the cytostatic drugs were being prepared at the Polish hospitals by the nursing staff on hospital wards, however according to the Pharmaceutical Law, preparation of cytostatic drugs, as a pharmaceutical service, should be performed by the pharmacists, who possess appropriate qualifications and experience in working within aseptic conditions and who are trained in professional handling with harmful substances. The aim of this paper has been to assess the impact, which establishment of the cytostatic drugs unit at the hospital pharmacy of the big oncologic hospital, located in southern Poland, had on the overall costs of cytostatic drugs utilization.
  
  
  METHODS
  The analysis of drugs consumption, as well as determining the size of losses of particular active substances, prepared by the cytostatic drugs unit, have been based on statistical reports, provided by the hospital pharmacy. In order to calculate the level of consumption and losses of active substances in the chemotherapy ward, in framework of the previous modality of function, the estimations have been done, taking into consideration the same needs of particular patients, as those included within reports provided by the pharmacy. The actual prices of drugs from year 2012 have been applied in the assessment of costs of drug utilization. The calculations have been done with Excel and SPSS v.21 software. The methods of descriptive statistics and the comparison of groups, using the Student's t-test for dependent samples have been applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Due to functioning of the centralized modality of cytostatic drugs preparation within the specialized unit, the decline of overall cytostatic drug consumption, amounting to 9.73% has been observed. The reduction in losses, on stage of preparation of drugs, has been achieved and the share of these losses within overall consumption of drugs has dropped by 77.28%. The dissolution of cytostatic drugs in the cytostatic drugs unit, instead of the chemotherapy ward, allows the hospital to achieve the yearly savings, exceeding PLN 572,276.07.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Establisment of the cytostatic drugs unit, at the hospital pharmacy of the specialist oncologic hospital, not only allowed for increasing quality of pharmacotherapy, but also for substantial savings, when compared with the previously used method of dissolving and preparing cytostatic drugs by the nurses, instantly at the chemotherapy wards.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zuziak
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Topór-Madry
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pilc
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bochenek
mesh_terms: D054697:Cytostatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000191:economics* / Q000451:nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D011044:Poland
chemical_list: D054697:Cytostatic Agents