Effectiveness of a program to promote prescribe of herbal medicines according to the National List of Essential Medicines at a tertiary hospital -

Abstract

               Thailand has a policy to promote the use of Thai herbs in the health system to reduce reliance on importing a large number of drugs and raw materials from abroad. However, the use of herbal medicines in government hospitals is still relatively low. Therefore, researchers are interested in developing and evaluating the effectiveness of a program to promote prescribe of herbal medicines. This research is an action research to evaluate the effectiveness of a program to promote prescribe of herbal medicines according to the National List of Essential Medicines in outpatients before the program development between October 2022 and September 2023 (12 months) and after the program development between October 2023 and September 2024 (12 months). The results were analyzed using descriptive statistics, showing data in the form of frequency distribution (Frequency) and percentage (Percent). The research results found that after the program development, the prescribe of herbal medicines in outpatients increased by 16.31 percent and the total value of herbal medicines in outpatients increased by 90.48 percent. Therefore, the developed program to promote prescribe of herbal medicines according to the National List of Essential Medicines is effective in increasing the value of herbal medicines in outpatients. Executives or working groups promoting the prescribe of herbal medicines can apply it to increase the value of herbal medicines in service establishments