Interventions Assessment of Prescription Automatic Screening System in Chinese Hospitals: A Systematic Review

Objectives To systematically assess the outcomes and effectiveness of Prescription Automatic Screening System (PASS) on rational drug use in China. Methods All studies that evaluated the effects of PASS in Chinese hospitals were electronically searched. Meta-analysis was used to assess the outcomes of intervention effects. Results Twelve articles that appraised the interventions related to PASS were identified. All studies used before-after designs. Risk ratio was chosen as the effect size index. Heterogeneity was large (I^2 > 50%) in all main analyses. Effect sizes were pooled using random effects. Compared with the control group, the pooled effect sizes were 0.60 (95% CI, 0.52-0.70) for the outcome of the incident of inpatient irrational drug use (n = 5), 0.75 (95% CI, 0.59-0.96) for the outcome of the incident of outpatient patient irrational drug use (n = 2), and 0.29 (95% CI, 0.10-0.86) for the outcome of the incidence of black-light warning orders (n = 6). Conclusions Interventions related to PASS was associated with the reduction of irrational drug use and medication errors.