Control of intravenous medication wastage at a teaching hospital in Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the intravenous (IV) medication wastage within the inpatient pharmacy services at a teaching hospital, and to highlight the main causes for such waste and propose a policy to minimize wastage based on the study findings.

METHODS: For a one month period starting from September until October 2009, the returned and unused IV medications to the inpatient pharmacy in a teaching hospital at King Khalid University Hospital of King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were observed daily. Data were collected and evaluated. The causes of this problem were analyzed.

RESULTS: Approximately 265 items of IV medication were collected during the study period. Antibiotics preparations (77%) were the most unused and wasted. Medication discontinuation (60%) was the main cause for such wastage.

CONCLUSIONS: The problem of IV medication wastage was noticed and investigated. The main causes of such problems were specified, and a program to minimize the wastage was proposed. Further study with more data for longer time is required, followed by an evaluation of the impact of applying the proposed program.