Establishing a System for Effectively Explaining Indications for Driving Prohibition Contained in Drug Package Inserts.

To prevent onset and proliferation of public health/hygiene hazards arising from adverse reactions to drugs, physicians and pharmacists in Japan are now required to provide sufficient explanation of precautions when prescribing or dispensing drugs with package inserts indicating that the patient should not drive, or should take precautions when driving, while taking the drug. Additionally, to ensure proper use of drugs dispensed in accordance with the prescriptions issued by physicians or dentists, the Law for Partial Amendment of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law (Law No. 103 of 2013) mandates that pharmacists must provide necessary pharmacological research-supported information and guidance to the person receiving the prescribed drug. Under such circumstances, at the Ehime University Hospital Division of Pharmacy we have recently standardized our system for in-person explanation of precautions and necessary guidance to be practiced by pharmacists at our hospital's pharmacy with outpatients being prescribed any drug that requires driving caution. We present concrete examples to support that such standardization of the explanation and guidance system at our hospital has reduced the burden placed on pharmacists in their provision of routine clinical services.