Analysis of medicine consumption in peacekeeping level II hospitals.

BACKGROUND The peacekeeping military units of contributing countries are unfamiliar with the conditions prevailing in foreign mission areas and therefore have difficulties with medical supplies storage. AIM The aim of this study is to provide reasonable and practical guidance on the maintenance of medical supplies in the peacekeeping military units of contributing countries. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 1,972 prescriptions were received by the pharmacy in the peacekeeping level II hospital in the Republic of Sudan from February to July of 2009 including a total of 186 drug categories and 17,713 minimum packing units. Pairwise comparison was performed using the c2 test. When the total number of samples was smaller than 40, the Fisher's exact test was adopted for pairwise comparison. RESULTS The majority of the consumed medicines mainly belonged to 6 categories, including specialty drugs, anti-microbial drugs, Chinese patent medicines, gastrointestinal drugs, central nervous system drugs, and drugs regulating fluids, electrolytes, and acid-base balance. Altogether, the drugs in the 6 categories accounted for 74% of all consumed medicines that were divided into a total of 20 categories. CONCLUSIONS Medicine consumption in peacekeeping level II hospitals is unique, therefore the drugs used in military medical facilities should be prepared according to their actual needs in the area of peacekeeping operations.