Cost comparison of oral, nasogastric, and intramuscular cimetidine drug delivery systems.

Under diagnosis-related group prospective payment, the role of the hospital pharmacy department is to develop and promote cost effective and rational drug therapy. This study, conducted in a simulated fashion, evaluated the cost effectiveness of various cimetidine drug delivery systems: oral, nasogastric, and intramuscular. The evaluation was also extended to compare time efficacy between different dosage forms for each route of administration with the exception of the intramuscular route. Each of four nurses and four pharmacy technicians conducted 10 trials for each system to detect a statistical significance difference in pharmacy preparation and nursing administration time with at least 80% statistical power. The results showed no statistically significant difference (P > 0.1) between the total oral administration time of a unit-dose tablet or liquid. A significant difference was detected among the pharmacy-prepared liquids, and unit-dose liquid administered nasogastrically (P < 0.01). The most cost-effective system is the orally administered unit-dose tablet and the most expensive system is the unit-dose liquid administered nasogastrically.