In our Pharmacy Department, we exert our skills and knowledge about medicines to help patients to recover as soon as possible. We are responsible for our work so that all the medicines are safely and effectively to all the patients.
Our tasks include dispensing, medicine management, pharmaceutical preparation, medicine management and guidance, team working, providing drug information, convening Pharmaceutical Affairs Committee (to discuss the medicines used at the hospital), running the clinical trial office and training of pharmacy students. We also work as tutors for study groups and lectures for patients and their families, such as Diabetes Class, Family class, as well as various Illness Study Programmes.
Dispensing
‘Dispensing’ is to prepare medicines prescribed by doctors and provide them to patients with sufficient information to enable optimal use.
When doctors write a prescription, pharmacists check the dosage (if it is an adequate amount for the patient, based on age or renal and hepatic functions), directions, drug interaction, and potential side effects (prescription audit) and ask doctors if any doubt.
After the audit, tablets, powder, liquid, topical medicines (e.g. poultice, ointment, eye drops) or injections are prepared. Then another pharmacist will check if the contents are right (dispensing audit), and hand it to patients with drug information.
Because our Hospital deals mostly with mental disoders, pharmacotherapy is more important than usual, and many prescriptions are very complex with multiple medicines and/or powders. Therefore, we use One Dose Package(ODP) for patients’ convenience.
Outside Prescription
Outside Prescription enables you to receive medicine from pharmacies outside the hospital. You can visit any dispensing health insurance pharmacy. (Patients under Medical System for Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities must visit the designated pharmacies). If you are visiting more than one clinic, have your medication dispensed at the same pharmacy, then you will benefit from having all your prescriptions managed and ensuring that drug interactions and side-effect history can be checked. Some costs may occur.
We ask patients to dispense their prescription outside the hospital, to minimize waiting time at our Hospital. Be sure to take your prescription to the pharmacy within four days, including the issuing date.
Injection Drugs Dispensing
Injection drugs for inpatient treatment are prepared daily as prescribed by doctors (Individualized Setting). Because injection drugs show their effect faster and more strongly than oral medicine, even stricter cheking is required. Dosage and potential incompatibility of drug compounds also require more thorough check. More than one pharmacist check prescriptions to ensure safety management and appropriate usage.
Medicine Management and Guidance (inpatient support on pharmacotherapy)
Pharmacists visit wards at doctors’ request to manage pharmacotherapy and to give pharmaceutical information to inpatients. They will inspect medicinal history, medical records (including consultation record), and laboratory data, conduct personal interviews with patients and family for explanation and surveys, and check the efficacy of medicine and occurrence of side effect. Information gained from Medical Management Guidance will be shared with doctors and nurses for the improvement of the efficacy and safety of pharmacotherapy.
The charactersitcs of our Medical Management Guidance are our handling of large amount of difficult cases, such as patients with poor understanding of their illnesses and medication, and patients incapable of communicating. By giving guidance according to the patients’ level of understanding and helping them to understand their own diseases and medication, medication adherence improves and assists faster recovery into society.
Drug Information (DI)
Our Drug Information department is responsible for dealing with inquiries from medical service providers (doctors and nurses) regarding diverse range information on medicine. It also functions as an office for our Pharmaceutical Affairs Committee (a committee to discuss the medicines used at the hospital) to gather and sort information that will be used for discussion on adoption/abolition of medicines and other pharmaceutical affairs. Additionally, Pharmacotherapy Seminars for medical service providers both inside and outside the hospital are held regularly, and the ‘Pharmacy Department Journal on Medicine’ is published once a month to provide information on the correct usage of medicine. Information on side effects that have occurred at the hospital is gathered and reported to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
Medicine Management
There are approximately 890 types of medicines used at the hospital. At our department, we manage these medicines to ensure that the purchase, payment and storage will be done appropriately. Antipsychotics take up the majority. As well as managing the cost and quality of medicine, request details are inspected in order to promote the correct use of injections, disinfectants, test drugs, treatment drugs and plasma derivatives used in our Outpatient Department and wards. We also regularly patrol the Outpatient Department and wards to check the stock, condition, and expiry date of medicines.
Pharmaceutical Preparation
If the medicine needed for the treatment is not available on the market, it will be prepared at the hospital. For example, special ointments, gargles, disinfectants and so on are prepared.
Medical Care Team System
We participate in Team Working Care (multidisciplinaryl teams working for patient care). Our pharmacists take part in the Infection Control Team (ICT), the Nutrition Support Team (NST) and the Bedsore Prevention Team. We also give lectures on pharmacotherapy and the taking of medicine; these include: Diabetes Class, Dependence Class, and Family Class on Medication, for both outpatients and inpatients, and Illness Study Programmes for inpatients.
Our Staff
Currently there are 13 full-time pharmacists, three part-time pharmacists, a temporary pharmacist, four temporary administrative staff members, and a pharmaceutical assistant (outsourced).
Dispensing Time
| Weekdays | 09:00 -17:30 |
| Saturday | 09:00 -12:30 |
| Sunday and Holidays | closed |