The magnitude of possible savings to be made by changing drug dose frequency was investigated. First, the time, labour cost and material cost involved in administering three different dosage forms on the oncology ward of a university hospital was measured. On average, administering a single oral dose took 0.6 minutes, an injection 4.8 minutes and an infusion 10.9 minutes. The dose frequencies on three wards (oncology, surgical and internal medical) were then noted. For oral medications the frequencies were similar, 39 to 53 per cent of the doses being administered three times daily, but for parenteral drugs there was a large variation in dose frequency. The total time spent on drug dosing activities in one month was 82.7 hours on the oncology ward, 74.8 hours on the surgical ward and 65.8 hours on the medical ward. The time spent giving doses of the most frequently ordered thrice daily oral drug varied from 4.0 to 5.2 hours per month on each ward. The annual costs of drug dosing, related to drug acquisition costs, varied from 5.8 per cent to 30.1 per cent. The magnitude of theoretical savings at the hospital level, made by changing the most popular intravenous antibiotic (currently administered three times a day) to a once a day alternative could mean savings of about 60,000 ECU per year. However, in practice, this kind of calculation is applicable only to the most frequently used medications.
展开▼
