BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

ALL patient and drug information received in the pharmacy department at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi-Araba, Lagos, can now be inputted into electronic format and then processed routinely to generate reports for medically-required key decision-making purposes at the tertiary healthcare institution.

This development, said to be first of its kind in the country, came to light following the take off of the maiden e-Pharmacy pilot project set up as a collaborative effort between Pfizer Specialties, Nigeria, and the LUTH to foster healthcare initiatives especially in the area of capacity building and health information management in the country.

The e-Pharmacy pilot project which has an installed Health Information System (HIS), collates pharmacy-based data such as stock checks, patient/pharmacist transactions, drug interactions, patient history checks and prescription costs.

It is aimed at creating a pool of credible and reliable data that can used for globally accepted research publications and also to improve forecasting and resource management thereby enabling pharmacists, physicians and other stakeholders in the healthcare delivery team to make informed decision for the benefit of the patient.

Last week, at the official launch of the facility, Country Manager, Pfizer, Dr. Enrico Liggeri, said Nigeria was selected as the target country for the e-Pharmacy pilot project due to the concentration of the largest high-risk patient populations as well its complex and overstretched healthcare system. The pilot project is to be extended to other units of the hospital and other health institutions nationwide.

Pfizer’s Medical Director, Dr. Kodjo Soroh described the initiative as the first major public private partnership by Pfizer in Nigeria. “We look forward to engaging with more government institutions to deliver quality healthcare to the Nigerian populace.”

Lauding the initiative, LUTH’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof. Akin Osibogun, said it would foster a greater understanding of patient’s needs which will in turn improve the overall quality of medical care.

He observed that the new e-pharmacy outlet would encourage research that would inform decision-making for the benefit of pharmacists and patients. “If we can have prescriptions and diagnoses done electronically, it will help in research. It will enable us create an electronic database of patients and make available detailed and more accurate information for patient care.”

Deputy Director, Pharmaceutical Services, LUTH, Pharm Oluranti Adedeji said the LUTH/Pfizer e-Pharmacy project had already taken off with 18 interconnected computers sharing information online and in real time.

“On this first phase, we have automated operations in the A&E, pharmacy, Outpatients Department Pharmacy and Staff clinic Pharmacy. The installed application allows us to view, at the click of a mouse, patient medication history, drug-drug interaction, medication counseling tips, out od stock and refill reports among others.”