<p>Evaluation of Medicine-Use Pattern Using World Health Organization’s Core Drug-Use Indicators and Completeness of Prescription at University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia: Cross-Sectional Study</p>

Abstract

Background Rational use of medicines is patients receiving medicines appropriate to their diagnosis in doses that meet their requirements for an adequate period of time at an affordable price. Irrational prescribing practices result in ineffective, unsafe treatment, prolong prognosis, and increase health-care costs, and this is a common phenomenon in Ethiopia. The aim of this study was to evaluate medicine-use pattern using World Health Organization core drug-use indicators and completeness of prescription at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital. Methods A retrospective and prospective cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the dispensing pharmacy units of the health facility from March 2019 to May 2019 using a systematic random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 24.0, and results are presented using tables. Results A total of 1,128 medicines were covered in the analyzed sample. The response rate, using standard prescription paper was found to be 100%. Mean number of medicines per prescription was 1.88. The proportion of medicines actually dispensed was 74.56%, and 91.4% medicines were prescribed by their generic names. Among prescribed medicines, antibiotics accounted for 37.5%, and 20% of the prescribed medicines were injectable. Prescriptions containing patient name, identification number, age, and sex comprised 99.8%, 99.5%, 91.8%, and 94.5%, respectively of the total. Prescriptions signed by prescribers accounted for 96.2%, however, only 75.8% of prescribers wrote their name. Moreover, only 4.8% of dispensers printed their name, and 32.7% of prescriptions were signed by pharmacists. Patient-care indicators were found to be below standard. Conclusion Most prescriptions were incomplete, and prescribers by far completed their role than dispensers. The health facility has standard prescription paper and updated pharmaceuticals list. Percentages for encounters with antibiotics, prescribing by generic name, and patient-care indicators deviated from the standard. The dispensing and counseling time also far from the standard, and most medicines were not labeled.

Rational Drug Use Evaluation Based on World Health Organization Core Drug Use Indicators in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review

“…As well, eight studies used prescription review, nine studies used prescription review and face to face interview, two studies used observation and face to face interview, and two studies used prescription and drug list review. Concerning geographic distribution, seven studies were conducted from Amhara region, 23 , 27 , 28 , 31–34 six were from Oromia region, 24 , 26 , 35–38 four were from Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), 39–42 one was from Tigray region, 43 one was from Somali region, 25 one was from Harari region, 44 and the remaining one was conducted from three regions of the country (Somali, Harari and Dire Dawa), 45 There is no study that was conducted in Gambela, Benishangul and Afar regions, and Addis Ababa city administration ( Table 1 ).…”

“…In Ethiopia, several fragmented studies have been conducted to investigate the practice of rational drug use in health care facilities using WHO drug use indicators. [23][24][25][26][27][28] However, the studies showed a difference in practice of rational drug use, and to the authors knowledge, the literatures have not been examined systematically. Therefore, this systematic review was aimed to investigate the practice of rational drug use in health care facilities using WHO drug use indicators in Ethiopia.…”

Evaluation of prescription completeness, rational drug-use patterns using WHO prescribing, patient-care and facility indicators in Debre Tabor Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study

“…The average number of drugs per encounter, 1.95, is acceptable when compared with WHO standard (1.6-1.8) derived as ideal scenario and with other research results. 3,18,30,31 This result is lower when compared with studies conducted in Eastern Ethiopia, 32 and Arba Minch General Hospital. 12 But this result is higher comparatively with studies conducted at Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (TGCSH), 25 Dessie Referral Hospital, 33 and two district Hospitals in Northwest Ethiopia.…”

The effect of prescription patterns on the performance of the pharmacy department of a Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda

“…The World Health Organisation (WHO) reports indicate that more than half of all drugs are prescribed and issued inappropriately (Garg et al, 2014 ). Consequently, this leads to irrational use of drugs, stock-outs, expiries, inefficient use of financial resources, treatment failure and antimicrobial resistance (Action Programme on Essential Drugs and Vaccines, 2010 ; Alex, 2018 ; Chem et al, 2018 ; Getahun et al, 2020 ; Ofori-Asenso & Agyeman, 2016 ; World Health Organization, 2023 ); and patients and the community suffer economic burden prompted by the use of costly medicines (UBOS-Statistical Abstract, 2020 ).…”