Tayebati Seyed Khorsow, Nittari Giulio, Mahdi Syed Sarosh, Ioannidis Nicholas, Sibilio Fabio, Amenta Francesco
Research Department, International Radiomedical Centre (CIRM), 00144 Rome, Italy.
Int Marit Health. 2017;68(1):39-45. doi: 10.5603/IMH.2017.0007.
Ships should carry mandatory given amounts of medicinal products and basic first aid items, collectively known as the ship's medicine chest. Type and quantities of these products/items are suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and regulated by individual flag states. In countries that lack national legislation, it is assumed that ships should follow WHO indications. An objective difficulty mainly involving vessels of international long-haul routes could be to recognise medicinal compounds obtained in other countries for replacing products used or expired. Language barrier may complicate, if not make it impossible to interpret the name of the medicinal product and/or of the active principle as indicated in a box printed in a completely different language. Handling of the ship's pharmacy may be difficult in case of purchasing of drugs abroad due to language barriers. Medicinal products are identified by the international non-proprietary name of the active principle and/or by their chemical or invented (branded) names. This may make the identification of a medicinal product difficult, primarily if it is purchased abroad and the box and instructions are written in the language of the country where it is marketed. Therefore, there is a simpler classification system of the medicinal compounds the ATC (ATC: Anatomy, Therapeutic properties, Chemical, pharmacological properties). This paper has reviewed the list of medicinal products recommended by WHO and assigned to each one the ATC code as a solution to the problem of medicinal compounds organisation.
Two researchers independently examined the list of medicinal compounds indicated in the third edition of the International Medical Guide for Ships and attributed to each compound the ATC code according to the 2013 Guidelines for ATC classification and Defined Daily Dose (DDD) assignment.
The ATC code was attributed to the medicinal compounds indicated in the third edition of the International Medical Guide for Ships.
The availability of an objective system to identify medicinal products is required for ships, which will contribute in making the identification of items purchased simpler, making it easier to understand which drug seafarers need to be administer, and consequently reduce possible therapeutic mistakes.
船舶应携带规定数量的药品和基本急救用品，统称为船舶药箱。这些产品/物品的类型和数量由世界卫生组织（WHO）建议，并由各个船旗国进行监管。在缺乏国家立法的国家，假定船舶应遵循WHO的指示。一个主要涉及国际长途航线船舶的客观困难可能是识别在其他国家获得的药用化合物，以替代已使用或过期的产品。语言障碍可能会使解读用完全不同语言印刷在包装盒上的药品名称和/或活性成分名称变得复杂，甚至无法解读。由于语言障碍，在国外购买药品时，船舶药房的管理可能会很困难。药品通过活性成分的国际非专利名称和/或其化学名称或商品（品牌）名称来识别。这可能会使药品的识别变得困难，尤其是在国外购买且包装盒和说明书使用销售国语言编写的情况下。因此，有一种更简单的药品化合物分类系统，即解剖学、治疗学、化学、药理学特性（ATC）分类系统。本文回顾了WHO推荐的药品清单，并为每个药品指定了ATC代码，作为解决药品化合物组织问题的一种方法。
两名研究人员独立审查了《国际船舶医疗指南》第三版中列出的药品化合物清单，并根据2013年ATC分类和限定日剂量（DDD）分配指南为每种化合物指定ATC代码。
已为《国际船舶医疗指南》第三版中列出的药品化合物指定了ATC代码。
船舶需要一个客观的药品识别系统，这将有助于简化所购物品的识别，便于理解船员需要服用哪种药物，从而减少可能的治疗错误。
