Identification of a Set of Activities to Be Collectively Considered as an Integrated System for Registering Pharmaceutical Supplies in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Iran

Background and Aim: One of the complex processes in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in Iran is the process of registering pharmaceutical supplies. Currently the registration process is a multi-stage process, resulting in parallel services, a waste of time and unnecessary expenses. Therefore, an integrated system will improve the relevant service delivery. The purpose of this study was to identify a set of activities that could be collectively considered as a single service to create an integrated system for registering pharmaceutical supplies in the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Iran. Materials and Methods: This was an applied research, beginning with collecting information about the registration processes for 20 different products. In order to identify the services/steps of an integrated system for recording pharmaceutical supplies, first the Gray-Wolf multi-objective optimization (GWO) algorithm was proposed. Then the values of the algorithm parameters were extracted by the goal-based requirements analysis method and the algorithm was implemented. Finally the best services were extracted by the hierarchical analysis process. Results: Through the proposed algorithm seven services were identified, including product class inquiry, document registration, document review according to license type and product class, licensing, laboratory services, clinical studies and payment service. These services were carefully approved with a precision of 97.3 by the experts of the Ministry of Health. The proposed framework for recording drug requirements was found to be effective and could facilitate the process by up to 90%, reduce the processing time by 80% and reduce the processing costs by 65%. Conclusion: Creating an integrated system for registering pharmaceutical supplies is one of the important challenges of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. This can be achieved by identifying services and combining these services to create an integrated system.