Vol.63 No.4 July 2015
Cost-effectiveness consideration of the antimicrobial chemotherapy
Pharmaceutical Department, Kanagawa Prefectural Shiomidai Hospital, 1-6-5 Shiomidai, Isogo-ku, Kanagawa, Japan
Abstract
Recently, considering the appropriate use of antimicrobials, the intervention of pharmacists is considered to be very important. In 2007, the IDSA and SHEA issued joint guidelines for comprehensive strategies, so-called "Antimicrobial Stewardship", intended to promote the proper management of antimicrobials. In these guidelines, the pharmacist is regarded as a key-player for the purpose of drug management, and is required to take cost-effectiveness into consideration. Cost-effectiveness studies the pharmacoeconomics analysis method needed.
In this report, we investigate the effect on the outcome and cost-effectiveness of pharmacist interventions using a cost minimization analysis. Also, a simple cost-effectiveness study targeting community-acquired pneumonia patients was carried out. The results showed that pharmacist interventions significantly improved the cost-effectiveness.
More aggressive pharmacist interventions in antimicrobial chemotherapy, with due considerations paid to economics, seem to be important in pushing ahead with "Antimicrobial Stewardship".
Key word
cost-effectiveness, antimicrobial stewardship, pharmacoeconomics
Received
January 5, 2015
Accepted
March 19, 2015
Jpn. J. Chemother. 63 (4): 397-405, 2015
