Shanghai General Hospital's use of antibiotics has fallen by a fifth since it introduced a scheme whereby pharmacists monitor doctors' outpatient services and ward rounds of hospitalized patients to study drug usage.
Pharmacists also set up a consultation service at the pediatrics department to advise parents on their children's drug use and medicines, the hospital said yesterday.
"Pharmacists are no longer people sitting at the drug store to issue medicines but experts who participate the whole treatment and give advice to doctors," said Li Qun, a hospital official.
"At our wards, the team of 41 pharmacists set up drug records for each hospitalized patient and they have the final say for each prescription. If they rule against a doctor's prescription, then nurses cannot issue the prescription."
At the outpatients department, pharmacists see patients together with doctors covering pediatrics, oncology and obstetrics to offer guidance on drugs to patients.
In addition to the pharmacist service, the hospital has also set up the city's first hospital-based 3D guiding system, allowing patients to find where departments and services at the hospital are located via their smartphones.
