Rational Use of Drugs in Egypt According to the Standard WHO Prescribing Indicators: Pilot Baseline Situational Analysis
Background: The irrational use of drugs is a major health problem resulting in; reduction in the quality of drug therapy, increasing morbidity and mortality rates, waste of resources, development of antibiotic-resistant organisms, transmission of blood-borne diseases. Objective: The main objective of the present study was to assess health care professionals’ adherence to WHO prescribing indicators in order to identify areas in need for intervention and set recommendations regarding the rational use of medicines. Materials and methods: A sample of 340 prescribing encounter were collected randomly from different health facilities (hospitals, health care centers, community pharmacies) in Egypt. All prescriptions were evaluated for adherence to WHO prescribing indicators and British National Formulary (BNF) prescribing patterns. Results: The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 3.14. The results of the present study showed that the mean percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 16.07% with a significant difference in practice between different health facilities. The frequency of prescribed antibiotics was 18.97%; the percent of prescribed antibiotic in primary health care centers was 31.97. This study showed that the frequency of prescribed injectable drugs was less than 10%. Recommendations: The study emphasizes the need for incorporation of the rational drug prescribing as an integral part in the national practice guidelines. Furthermore, these results emphasize the critical role of the drug information centers with trained clinical pharmacist in promoting rational use of drugs.
Noha Osama Mansour, El-Hefnawy ME
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