Assessment of drug use pattern using who prescribing and patient care indicators in a referral hospital in Ethiopia

Objectives: Drug therapy is considered to be a major component of patient management in health care settings. To promote rational drug use, it is important to assess drug use pattern using the World Health Organization (WHO) drug use indicators.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from February to April, 2014 at ARH pharmacy department. Data was collected from 422 prescriptions retained in the pharmacy and from 60 patients who attended MOPD during data collection period. WHO prescribing and patient care indicator forms were used for the data collection.

Results: The average number of drugs per prescription was 1.67(SD 0.93) with a range of one to six. Generic prescribing and drug use from national formulary were 610(86.6%) and 663(94%), respectively. The percentage of antibiotic and injection use was found to be 32.9% and 41.9%, respectively. 32.7%, 51.2 % and 16.1 % of the prescriptions were prescribed by nurses, intern medical students and general practitioners respectively and 77.7%(108) of the prescribed drugs were dispensed from the ARH OPD. The average consultation time was 10.3 minutes while the average dispensing time was 74 seconds. 10.8 % of the prescriptions were appropriately labeled.

Conclusions: The study showed that there were deviations from standard WHO recommended rational prescribing practice with regard to antibiotic and injection use, generic prescribing and prescribing based on national formulary in ARH. Concerning patient care indicators, the results were far from the optimal values, especially for average dispensing time, drug labeling and patients’ knowledge of correct dose.