Evaluation of turkish pharmaceutical track and trace system (ITS): perspective of community pharmacists

Abstract Turkish Pharmaceutical Track & Trace System (ITS) is implemented as a system in which drug movements are tracked in order to ensure drug safety. The system is integrated among drug stores, pharmacies and reimbursement institutions. As the pharmacies are the primary users, their evaluations regarding the system are considered important. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the pharmacies’- a shareholder of ITS in Turkey- satisfaction level for ITS and problems and suggestions encountered in the system. The most expressed contribution of ITS to the pharmacists’ work was the ease of medicine tracking and control with 27.1%. The average satisfaction level of pharmacists about ITS was found to be 2.9±1.2. In the research, the most expressed of the regarding the areas of ITS that need to be developed is ‘work without interruption’ with 37.1%. ITS application has provided advantages for pharmacies in many aspects that facilitate operations. However, continuous development of technology, increasing information resources and diversity, changing expectations, and utilization levels of the users require the constant improvement of the performance of the system.摘要：土耳其药品追踪溯源系统（Track & Trace System, ITS）是一款旨在通过追踪药品流通全流程以保障药品安全的信息化管理系统。该系统已实现与药品批发企业、零售药店及医保报销机构的互联互通。由于零售药店为系统的核心使用主体，其对该系统的评价至关重要。本研究旨在评估作为土耳其ITS参与主体的零售药店对ITS的满意度，以及其在系统使用过程中遇到的问题与改进建议。受访药师提及频次最高的ITS对其工作的积极作用为"简化药品追踪与管控流程"，占比达27.1%。受访药师对ITS的平均满意度得分为2.9±1.2。本次调研中，提及频次最高的ITS优化方向为"无间断运行"，占比达37.1%。ITS的应用在诸多方面为零售药店提升了运营便利性。然而，技术的持续迭代、信息资源与服务类型的日益丰富、用户需求的不断变化以及用户系统使用水平的提升，均要求该系统持续优化其运行性能。