[AF] Epidemia de confusión.

[EDUARDO LUIS MARIÑO HERNANDEZ]

Aunque muy probablemente muchos ya lo conoceréis, desde nuestra Unidad  
de Farmacia Clínica y Farmacoterapia de la Univ. de Barcelona hicimos  
hace unos años y dentro de un proyecto a nivel europeo, un estudio  
sobre los medicamentos  devueltos  a las Oficinas de Farmacia de  
Barcelona, con el conocimiento del Colegio de Barcelona y la  
imprescindible ayuda de los compañeros de las Oficinas de Farmacia que  
previo procedimiento de aleatorización quisieron participar en el  
estudio y a quienes les entregamos constancia nominal de su  
participación.

La experiencia del trabajo conjunto fue muy satisfactoria y los  
resultados quedaron publicados en el año 2008 en una revista  
internacional con revisión por pares. La experiencia con SIGRE no fue  
tan buena y ahora preferimos no recordarla.

El resumen de la publicación, por si resultara de interés, la incluyo abajo.

Eduardo L. Mariño
Barcelona


Pharm World Sci. 2008 Jun;30(3):272-7. Epub 2007 Nov 16.

Returned medicines in community pharmacies of Barcelona, Spain.

Coma A, Modamio P, Lastra CF, Bouvy ML, Mariño EL.

Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of  
Pharmacy, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To monitor the amount of unused drugs and the cost to the public  
health system. Setting A random sample of community pharmacies in  
Barcelona, Spain. Method The drugs were collected from 38 community  
pharmacies over a period of 7 consecutive working days (excluding  
Sundays). A questionnaire was designed to evaluate each returned  
medicine. The resulting data were analyzed and evaluated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:

The number of drugs collected at the pharmacy, the characteristics of  
the clients and the reasons why they returned the drugs, and finally  
the economic value of the drugs returned and the cost to the public  
health system.

RESULTS:

A total of 227 clients (54.6% women, 64 +/- 20 years-old) returned  
1,176 packages to the pharmacy. The number of packages collected in  
one return ranged from 1 to 121. The number of packages collected per  
pharmacy ranged from 0 to 188. In more than half of the cases (52.4%)  
the patients returned their drug in person and in 32.2% of the cases a  
relative returned it on their behalf. The main reason (28.2%) why  
drugs were returned was the expiry date. In 24.9% of the cases the  
patient's condition had improved and there was no further need for the  
drug. In 20.8% the patient had died. The estimated total cost of the  
collected drugs was euro 8,539.9. Over 75% of this amount (euro  
6,463.9) had been paid by the public health system.

CONCLUSION:

This study confirms the importance of analyzing the return of unwanted  
medicines to reduce unnecessary health expenditure. It also highlights  
the inadequacies of the Spanish health system in the areas of  
prescription, dispensing and use of medicines. Establishing strategies  
to reduce the wastage of unused medicines is necessary.
______________________________________________________________________________

Eduardo Satue  ha escrit:

> Bueno, lo más interesante del sigre es que se dedicó durante varios  
> años a cobrar por eliminar los residuos de medicamentos  
> correctamente... y acabaron en un agujero en el suelo, tipo  
> vertedero tercermundista.