Impact of Implementing Essential Drugs System on Rational Drug Use in Basic Medical Institutions of Kunming

Objective To analyze and evaluate the changes of prescriptions in outpatient departments in basic medical institutions of Kunming before and after implementing the essential drugs system, and to promote rational drug use. Methods Fifty outpatient prescriptions of March, June and September in 2009-2012 were sampled by systematic sampling method from 21 basic medical institutions of Kunming. The prescribing evaluation forms were filled, and the evaluation and analysis of rational drug use was performed. Res ults After the implementation of the essential drugs system, prescription drug indicators and drug rationality has not been improved significantly in the research area. The average number of drugs each prescription, the using percentage of antibiotics and injections were higher than the ideal value recommended by WHO. Only the using percentage of essential drugs was changed significantly and had statistical significance compared with the implementation of the system before. The main problems of non-standard prescription were no diagnosis or the diagnosis not standardized and the large prescription. Conclus ion The use of essential drugs gained popularity,but the effect of essential drug system promoting rational drug use was not reflected. The government should increase efforts to standardize the work of rational drug use in basic medical institutions.