ABSTRACT
Aim: This study was aimed at assessing the prescription pattern of antibiotics by physicians in Federal Staff Clinic, Abuja: A secondary health care facility in Nigeria. Study Design: It was a descriptive cross sectional study Place and Duration of Study: Federal Staff Clinic, Abuja, Nigeria between August 2012 and February 2013. Methodology: A total number of 1022 prescription sheets containing 1648 prescribed antibiotics were obtained retrospectively and examined. Results were analysed using SPSS version 15 and presented in form of descriptive statistics. Results: Results showed that Amoxicillin was the most prescribed antibiotic followed by Metronidazole (31.79% and 27.37% respectively). The mean number of antibiotics prescribed per prescription was 1.61± 0.55. The drug per prescription ranged from 1 to 9 with a mean of 3.04± 1.51. About Ninety five percent of the antibiotics were prescribed correctly in terms of frequency and duration of use. Only 21.2% of the antibiotic was prescribed in generic name. Almost all of the antibiotics were prescribed in oral form (98.3%) and were available for dispensing at the pharmacy as at the time of prescription (97.59%). All antibiotics prescribed were found in the Essential Drug List. Conclusion: Antibiotic usage in this health facility was largely in accordance with National Drug policy which promotes rationale use of drugs. However, majority of antibiotics were not prescribed in generic form, an area where the physicians need to be educated on and monitored further.
ABSTRACT
One of the objectives of the National drug policy is to promote the rational use of drugs by prescribers, dispensers and consumer. However, in developing countries, inappropriate prescribing has been identified among health facilities. Analgesics have been identified as one of the commonly prescribed drugs among prescribers in managing pain. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the analgesic usage among physicians at the outpatient department of a tertiary health facility. This study was a descriptive cross sectional survey. A total of 624 prescription sheets containing prescribed analgesics was obtained and examined. Data generated were analysed using SPSS version 15 software. The mean number of analgesics per prescription was 1.23 ± 0.49. The mean number of drug per prescription was 3.68 ± 1.54. A total of 16 analgesics were prescribed and the most prescribed analgesic was Paracetamol. There were low irrational analgesics combinations among prescribers. Most of the analgesics were prescribed correctly. Majority of the analgesics were prescribed in generic names. Oral dosage form formed the bulk of the prescribed analgesics. Also, most of the analgesics were from the Essential Drug List and almost all analgesics prescribed were available in the Pharmacy department for dispensing to patients as at the time the prescriptions were written. This study revealed that pain management in the centre was largely in accordance to the National Drug Policy and Standard treatment guidelines.