Why the rational use of medicines is important?

Medicine is one of the basic health care products needed for protecting, promoting the health and wellbeing, etc. For a sustainable health care service, it is mandatory to use medicines with regard to rational principles. World Health Organization (WHO), defined rational use of medicines (RUM) as “Patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community.” Since its definition, over the past 30 years many activities have been conducted for promoting RUM. Despite these activities, irrational use of medicines (IUM) still continues to be one of the significant public health problems. In time, particularly in recent years, the number, the variety and the use of medicines has dramatically increased. This increase has brought some affirmative improvements (i.e. new medication opportunities) as well as some important health care problems (i.e. treatment failures, drug resistance, health care problems related to medication error, drug interactions, increased health care costs). Furthermore, the knowledge which physicians, patients and other people involved in the drug utilization process need to know increases day by day, in parallel with the increase in the knowledge about treatments and medicines. This situation brings along the lack of knowledge and information pollution. These problems, which are characterized as IUM, are the major health care problems in countries. All health care professionals, particularly physicians assume primary responsibility for these problems. What extent the health care professionals move away from the RUM principles in their field, they become the source of problems. Therefore, it’s needed to conduct training and informing activities particularly for physicians who are the key people for the solution as well as other health care professionals. Psychopharmacology is a special area, which specific developments encountered and RUM principles had to be put in practice in all levels. In this congress, it’s believed that this RUM subjected panel will contribute to the need for the information exchange. As stated above, in this panel the importance and the subject of RUM will be discussed in detail.