Performance evaluation of primary healthcare system reform in Xinjin county, Chengdu city: VI. drug utilization in healthcare institutions of Xinjing county in 2010

Objective To investigate the drug utilization in primary healthcare system of Xinjin county of Chengdu in 2010. Methods The drug utilization information in regional health information platform of Xinjin county were collected. Microsoft Excel 2003 software was used to describe the types, forms and expenditure of medicines, particularly the use of antibiotics among outpatients and inpatients. Results The drug utilization of 17 hospitals in Xinjin county in 2010 was summarized below: a) there were 1 507, 1 356 and 695 kinds of drugs dispended for outpatients, and 1 271, 1 023 and 317 for inpatients in county-level hospitals (CLH), township hospitals (TH) and community healthcare centre (CHC), respectively. Among which, oral biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) accounted for about 45% of total types, and 46% to 73% of total drug expenditure among outpatients; while oral biomedicine and the injection accounted 37% to 61% of total types of medicines dispended to inpatients, particularly injection of biomedicine accounting for over 75% of total drug expenditure among inpatients. b) The expenditure of top 30 drugs in primary care hospitals accounted for 50% of total drug expenditure among outpatients and over 85% among inpatients. c) Among the top 20 drugs, there were 15 antibiotics, which accounted for 26.5% of total drug expenditure in Xinjin county. The top 10 antibiotics were mainly cephalosporin, accounting for 59.36% and 66.27% of total antibiotics expenditure among outpatients and inpatients respectively. Conclusion a) The main forms of medicines dispended to outpatients are oral biomedicine and TCM, while oral agents and injection of biomedicine are the majority of medicines used for inpatients. b) The top 30 drugs should be monitored for rational use of drugs considering the huge expenditure. And c) the types, proportion of use and expenses of antimicrobial drugs ranked the first in CLH, CHC and TH, which may imply irrational use of antibiotics. © 2014 Editorial Board of Chin J Evid-based Med.