Standard methods for studying pharmaceutical economy

Abstract

– It is necessary to check the quality of the expense for the production of “public good health” and find elements of evaluation and control whereby results may be compared, also considering the medicines used and the expenses incurred. Universally-accepted standard parameters allow analogous situations to be compared. In the case of epidemiological and pharmaceutical-economic research the accepted parameters are: medicine classification according to the A.T.C. (anatomic - therapeutic - chemical) method and assessment of the exposure to medicines of a group or population, according to the D.D.D. (defined dose per day) method. From February to March and September to October 1995, the men's section of the urology ward was evaluated in relation to “G04 AB” medicines, analysed in the 5th level according to the A.T.C. method. The working method is standardised and although not absolute, enables pharmaco-economic evaluations to be made between work groups with similar situations. Furthermore, despite not being complete in itself, it could become a system of external quality control.