Theses (MSc. Public Health)

Objective: This study aimed to determine the following: the rate of duplicate medication orders among patients attending Outpatient Specialist Clinics in Hospital Jerantut; the association between patient- and prescriber-related factors with medication duplication; and finally, to quantify the cost related to the identified duplication. Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted among 570 patients attending Outpatient Specialist Clinics in Hospital Jerantut. Two systems, namely Sistem Maklumat Rekod Pesakit (SMRP) and Pharmacy Information System (PhIS) were screened to retrieve patients’ demographic data and medication histories. Prescriptions with overlapping duration were manually identified from each patient’s profile in the PhIS and the costs for each duplicate medication order were calculated. Results: Out of the 570 patients, 70 (12.3%) patients received duplicate medication orders in Hospital Jerantut. From the multivariate analysis, the factors discovered to be significantly associated with medication duplication among the study population were age, gastrointestinal medications, and the number of prescriptions dispensed over the year 2021. The total cost for duplications was RM970.86. Conclusion: The rate and the cost associated with duplicate medication orders in Hospital Jerantut were relatively low. This demonstrates that as an electronic system, the PhIS system works sufficiently to reduce medication duplication. Hence, the system should be continuously improved, and its utilisation expanded.