A medicines terminology governance model for Thailand

Abstract

At present, Thailand does not have a national governance system for developing a health data standard and coding system, especially drug codes and medicine terminology. There is no single responsible organization and also no mechanism for cooperation among stakeholders to govern medicines terminology. This leads to difficulties of drug information exchange between health service units and drug utilization monitoring and evaluation at the national level. This study proposed a medicines terminology governance model for Thailand by applying a participatory research design. This researcher reviewed the experience from other countries that are very advanced in health information technology and then included all stakeholders as participants for interviewing. The interviews were iteratively done until the authors acquired enough data and saturation was reached then synthesized the medicines terminology governance model. The model confirmation step was conducted among 45 stakeholders in a stakeholder consultation seminar followed by usability testing. The governance model for medicines terminology was presented in three areas: Foundation, processes, and tools and services. The result demonstrated a responsible organization structure and functions, the collaborative network structure of stakeholders and cooperation process, and suggested tools and services facilitate users for medicines terminology governance. The usability of the proposed model was evaluated by six professional experts: The policy maker, medicines terminology administrator, drug manufacturer and distributor, health insurance scheme administrator, pharmacists or health-care professionals from the hospital and an expert in the national drug control section. In general, the professional experts agreed that the proposed model will suit the context and situation in Thailand.