nvestigation on Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescription of Tertiary Hospital Based on Outpatient Prescription Sample

  Objective  To investigate the prescription of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in a tertiary general hospital for outpatients based on the prescriptions sample.

  Methods  All of the prescriptions for outpatients visiting Peking Union Medical College Hospital from July 1 to September 30, 2015 were sampled and then analyzed according to the amount of prescriptions and costs on herbal medications, Chinese patent medicines, hospital preparations, and western medications, respectively.

  Results  The prescriptions on herbal medications by TCM Department accounted for 92.46% of those in the hospital. The prescriptions on Chinese patent medicines by TCM Department were 14.35% of all the Chinese patent medicine prescriptions of the whole hospital. The sum of prescriptions on herbal medications and Chinese patent medicines accounted for 18.72% of all outpatient prescriptions, and the sum of costs of these two types of prescriptions accounted for 12.39%. There were six TCM outpatient clinic units, with the highest amount of prescriptions in the general unit.

  Conclusions  The TCM Department is the major department herbal medications. Around 85.65% prescriptions on Chinese patent medicines were prescribed by non-TCM Department, which may induce potential risk of irrational use.