BASELINE SURVEY ON DRUG PRESCRIBING INDICATORS FOR OUTPATIENTS IN JIMMA UNIVERSITY SPECIALIZED HOSPITAL, SOUTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The extent of drug use is directly affected by prescribing behavior of physicians. The best way to investigate drug use in health facilities is usage of indicators developed by World Health Organization as they have proved Health Organization as they have proved to be both feasible to measure and informative as first line indicators during field testing in a number of developing countries.

OBJECTIVES: To measure prescribing indicators for our patients in Jimma University Specialized Hospital where measured values could be used later as baseline data for further follow up of quality of drug use.

METHODS: A retrospective survey of prescribing pattern was carried out using prescription records in our patient pharmacy to measure the prescribing indicators by collecting prescription records of March 2004 to May 2004 over three months period. A total of 660 prescriptions containing 1179 drugs were collected, reviewed and analyzed against core prescribing indicators.

RESULTS: The study revealed that the average number of drugs per encounter was 1.76. Percentage of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed was 25.6%, while percentage of encounters with injection prescribed was 2.9%. Percentage of drugs prescribed by generic names accounted 87.1%.

CONCLUSION: In the present study setup, the incidence of polypharmacy was very ok. The use of antibiotics and injections is lower compared to other studies. Lower percentage of injections prescribed is advisable, particularly in the HIV/AIDS era and cover the repeated use of injections carries the risk of abscess formation and transmission of fetal infections.