Schizophrenia Treatment Physician Order: New Initiatives at the Mental Hospital of Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia

The general administration of pharmaceutical care at the Ministry of Health in Saudi Arabia has released several pharmacy practice programs. The national pharmacy psychiatric program was one among them. This program has been established for the psychiatric management with an emphasis on schizophrenia. The guidelines inthis program have been implemented in the form of a physician order form. This form consists of the best therapeutic choice for the conventional type of schizophrenia, or schizophrenia with comorbid disease. The schizophrenia guidelines have been approved by the medical staff and have been implemented at the hospital. This type of management of schizophrenia will prevent drug-related problems and improve clinical outcome of the patients. It is the first new initiative project at the Ministry of Health and in the Middle Eastern countries.