Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study
Pharmacists play a beneficial role in supplying medicines to patients. Pharmacist prescribing practices were introduced into law in Poland in 2002, permitting pharmacists to prescribe medications in emergency situations and in 2020 the new law allowed to prescribe in all situation where it is needed...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-11-01
|
| Series: | Healthcare |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1505 |
| _version_ | 1797510130684657664 |
|---|---|
| author | Agnieszka Zimmermann Jakub Płaczek Natalia Wrzosek Artur Owczarek |
| author_facet | Agnieszka Zimmermann Jakub Płaczek Natalia Wrzosek Artur Owczarek |
| author_sort | Agnieszka Zimmermann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Pharmacists play a beneficial role in supplying medicines to patients. Pharmacist prescribing practices were introduced into law in Poland in 2002, permitting pharmacists to prescribe medications in emergency situations and in 2020 the new law allowed to prescribe in all situation where it is needed because of the health risks reasons. Our aim was to analyze pharmacist prescribing practices in Poland and confirm the useful of pharmacists’ activity in this area. Additionally, pharmacists were also authorized to issue reimbursed prescriptions for themselves or their family members. Since January 2020, only e-prescriptions are allowed in Poland. A retrospective analysis of the inspection written reports from 842 community pharmacies in the representative region of Poland with a population of two million, carried out in the time period from 2002 to 2016 was performed (2189 prescriptions) to assess the emergency pharmacist prescribing practices in Poland. The second part of the research was based on digital data on pharmacists prescriptions (18,529) provided by the e-Health Centre (a governmental organization under the Ministry of Health responsible for the development of health care information systems in Poland), enabling to conduct the analysis of pharmacist’s prescribing from 1 of April 2020 to 31 of October 2020. The analysis gave the insight of the evolution of the pharmacy prescribing patterns. In general, pharmaceutical prescriptions were issued in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, in town- or city center pharmacies, and in pharmacies in residential areas. The most common reason for a pharmaceutical prescription was that the patient was running out of a medicine and was unable to contact their physician. Cardiovascular, respiratory, dermatological, and digestive medications were most frequently prescribed. An analysis of pharmacists’ prescribing data from 1 April 2020 to 31 October 2020 confirmed the rapid increase of pharmaceutical prescriptions following implementation of the new legislative act during the COVID-19 epidemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:27:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-28f454f1b728491183d86c44bb2663b8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:27:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-28f454f1b728491183d86c44bb2663b82023-11-22T23:31:52ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322021-11-01911150510.3390/healthcare9111505Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive StudyAgnieszka Zimmermann0Jakub Płaczek1Natalia Wrzosek2Artur Owczarek3Department of Medical and Pharmacy Law, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, PolandDepartment of Pharmacoeconomics and Pharmacy Law, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, 85-089 Bydgoszcz, PolandDepartment of Medical and Pharmacy Law, Medical University of Gdańsk, 80-210 Gdańsk, PolandDepartment of Drug Form Technology, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-556 Wroclaw, PolandPharmacists play a beneficial role in supplying medicines to patients. Pharmacist prescribing practices were introduced into law in Poland in 2002, permitting pharmacists to prescribe medications in emergency situations and in 2020 the new law allowed to prescribe in all situation where it is needed because of the health risks reasons. Our aim was to analyze pharmacist prescribing practices in Poland and confirm the useful of pharmacists’ activity in this area. Additionally, pharmacists were also authorized to issue reimbursed prescriptions for themselves or their family members. Since January 2020, only e-prescriptions are allowed in Poland. A retrospective analysis of the inspection written reports from 842 community pharmacies in the representative region of Poland with a population of two million, carried out in the time period from 2002 to 2016 was performed (2189 prescriptions) to assess the emergency pharmacist prescribing practices in Poland. The second part of the research was based on digital data on pharmacists prescriptions (18,529) provided by the e-Health Centre (a governmental organization under the Ministry of Health responsible for the development of health care information systems in Poland), enabling to conduct the analysis of pharmacist’s prescribing from 1 of April 2020 to 31 of October 2020. The analysis gave the insight of the evolution of the pharmacy prescribing patterns. In general, pharmaceutical prescriptions were issued in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, in town- or city center pharmacies, and in pharmacies in residential areas. The most common reason for a pharmaceutical prescription was that the patient was running out of a medicine and was unable to contact their physician. Cardiovascular, respiratory, dermatological, and digestive medications were most frequently prescribed. An analysis of pharmacists’ prescribing data from 1 April 2020 to 31 October 2020 confirmed the rapid increase of pharmaceutical prescriptions following implementation of the new legislative act during the COVID-19 epidemic.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1505prescriptionscommunity pharmacy servicesemergency prescribingpharmacy practicepharmacy law and regulationCOVID-19 |
| spellingShingle | Agnieszka Zimmermann Jakub Płaczek Natalia Wrzosek Artur Owczarek Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study Healthcare prescriptions community pharmacy services emergency prescribing pharmacy practice pharmacy law and regulation COVID-19 |
| title | Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study |
| title_full | Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study |
| title_short | Assessment of Pharmacists Prescribing Practices in Poland—A Descriptive Study |
| title_sort | assessment of pharmacists prescribing practices in poland a descriptive study |
| topic | prescriptions community pharmacy services emergency prescribing pharmacy practice pharmacy law and regulation COVID-19 |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/9/11/1505 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT agnieszkazimmermann assessmentofpharmacistsprescribingpracticesinpolandadescriptivestudy AT jakubpłaczek assessmentofpharmacistsprescribingpracticesinpolandadescriptivestudy AT nataliawrzosek assessmentofpharmacistsprescribingpracticesinpolandadescriptivestudy AT arturowczarek assessmentofpharmacistsprescribingpracticesinpolandadescriptivestudy |