Improving the use of medicines in healthcare organizations to solve the problem of irrational use of medicines in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Abstract

The effectiveness of the provided drug therapy remains an urgent problem and is directly proportional to the rational use of drugs. According to WHO, the most common causes of improper use of drugs are polypharmacy, improper use of antibacterial agents, unjustified use of the parenteral route of administration of drugs in cases where it is preferable to use dosage forms for oral administration, non-compliance with clinical guidelines in case of prescribing drugs and inappropriate self-medication. To ensure the rationality of pharmacotherapy, appropriate assessment methods are used. The world standard for assessing the rationality of drug use and the impact on irrational options for their use are indicators for assessing good drug use management practices, which are unified objective and simple parameters for evaluating drug use and the quality of medical care. As a solution to the problems of the irrational use of drugs, policies are proposed to improve the rational use of drugs by introducing an assessment and monitoring of the use of drugs, conducting an information campaign for the population and medical workers with the aim of creating the right behaviors regarding the use of drugs and introducing mandatory continuing education for the rational use of drugs of all medical workers. The existing legislative framework of Kazakhstan, as well as the programs, plans and projects adopted in recent years for the development of the health care system, have all the necessary conditions to support the implementation of the proposed policy options, however, the main barriers to the implementation of policy options may be a lack of human resources, unethical behavior of pharmaceutical companies lobbying their interests in the promotion of drugs, the lack of support from the authorized body in the field of healthcare, and the lack of understanding by healthcare managers of the goal of implementing an assessment of the rational use of drugs.