First drive-through pharmacy services in Taiwan

BackgroundTaiwan has separated drug prescribing and drug dispensing services since 1997. Because of this, patients with chronic illness as well as those with diseases that have a relatively stable status may have their prescriptions refilled in nearby clinic pharmacies without having to go to hospitals.MethodsShuang-Ho Hospital in Taipei, Taiwan, implemented a drive-through pharmacy service as a more convenient refilling system to provide patients in need with a more effective way to refill their prescriptions. To assess the efficacy of this new refilling system, changes in patient drug prescription behavior were compared 6 months before and 6 months after the system was deployed.ResultsWe found an increase in the overall refilling prescription rate, with an increased use of online reservations (7.9% vs. 4.9%, p < 0.001), an increased proportion of medications picked up (93.0% vs. 88.1%, p < 0.001) after the implementation period, and an elevation in the percentage of patients using drive-through pharmacy services (45.4% vs. 28.9%, p < 0.001; second vs. first quarter, respectively) during the 6 months after the implementation period. Generally, the prescription refilling rate for all population categories at Shuang-Ho Hospital increased significantly after the drive-through service was provided (51.1% vs. 50.2%, p < 0.01). The middle-aged population group (40–65 years of age) was found to utilize the drive-through prescription service more than other age groups.ConclusionThe drive-through pharmacy provides patients with convenient access to pick up refilling prescriptions in a shorter time than ordinary pharmacy service. During a short-term follow-up, an overall increase in the prescription refilling rate was noted after the drive-through service was put into place. Our survey revealed that an upward of 90% of the patients were satisfied with the drive-through service. Future promotion of the service may help patients effectively utilize drive-through pharmacy prescription refilling and enhance disease control.