Enhancement and evaluation of a prescription audit system for direct oral anticoagulants using a check sheet

BACKGROUND: Renal function and use of concomitant medications should be carefully monitored in patients subjected to treatment with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs); the dose should be individually designed for each patient. Owing to the complex therapeutic indications and dose reduction criteria, pharmacists exercise caution when determining the optimal dose for each patient. A DOAC check sheet has been developed that is automatically printed in the dispensing room at the same time as the prescription and can be used by pharmacists to dispense DOACs promptly and correctly. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the system for dispensing DOACs using a check sheet. METHODS: The study was conducted at Tohoku University Hospital in Japan; prescriptions containing DOACs dispensed by the hospital pharmacists were evaluated. The DOAC check sheet described indications, dosage regimens, dose reduction criteria, and contraindications for each drug and included the patient’s information. The check sheet was set to print automatically in the dispensing room at the same time as the prescription when an inpatient was prescribed DOACs. This check sheet was evaluated using a prescription survey and a questionnaire for pharmacists. RESULTS: The usefulness of this check sheet for the correct use of DOACs was evaluated. There were four inquiries out of 642 (0.6%) prescriptions from pharmacists to physicians regarding DOAC prescriptions, such as the dose introduced before DOAC check sheet utilization, and there were 21 out of 905 (2.3%) prescriptions when the DOAC check sheet was used it, showing a significant increase (p = 0.0089). After the introduction of this sheet, overdoses of DOACs were identified at the time of dispensing. Of the 52 pharmacists who responded to the questionnaire, 51 (98%) stated that the check sheet was useful. CONCLUSION: The use of the DOAC check sheet is likely to render safety to DOAC drug therapy for individual patients.