Short Communication: Drug Utilization Pattern in Selected Health Facilities of Bahir Dar and West Gojam Zones, North Western Ethiopia

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out to document the drug utilization pattern in 21 selected health facilities in Bahir Dar and west Gojam zones during a 12-month period using core and complementary drug use indicators developed by WHO/INRUD. A total of 808 patient record cards and 882 prescriptions were analyzed. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 2.51 ± 0.5 with minimum and maximum values of 2 and 4, respectively. The percentage average antibiotic encounter was 50.7% ranging from 25 - 73.2% (p <0.05), which is unacceptable on the basis of WHO recommendations (20-30%). The percentage of injection encounter was 18.4% (range, 2.6 - 63.3%) which is higher than what WHO recommends (less than 10%). Percentage average generic prescription was 96.6% (range, 62.6% - 100%), which is very encouraging. Both the mean time spent on prescriber - patient consultations (2.9 ± 0.8 min) and mean pharmacy dispensing time (45.5 ± 10.9 sec) were short, resulting in a mean patient knowledge of 77.3%. The percentage of correctly labeled drugs in this study was 75.7% (range, 43.6% - 96.8%). The study revealed a marked inflation in the use of antibiotics and injections. Though, additional studies linking diagnosis and prescribing are required, it is imperative from this study that much effort should be made to improve patient care in each health facility.

Key words: cross sectional study, drug utilization, drug use indicators, generic prescription, use of antibiotics and injections