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6ER-017 Assessment of drug prescription using the world health organisation (who) indicators at a public hospital
  1. D Endarti,
  2. A Sawitri,
  3. C Wiedyaningsih
  1. Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Pharmaceutics, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Background Drug use is one part of the drug management cycle which covers selection, procurement, distribution and use. The World Health Organisation has provided the WHO core drug use indicators to promote rational drug use in developing countries.

Purpose This study aimed at assessing drug prescription patterns using WHO prescribing indicators at a public hospital in Indonesia, as a pilot study for further larger studies.

Material and methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in one district hospital in Central Java Province, Indonesia. Data were collected retrospectively from recipes of outpatients visiting the district hospital in a period of two years from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016 to examine the time-trend performance. In total, 1218 recipes consisting of 609 recipes for each year were included in the analysis. Data were analysed in accordance with WHO prescribing indicators 1993 modified in 2004.

Results The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter in 2015 and 2016 were 3 and 3.1, respectively (WHO standard: 1. 6 to 1. 8). The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name in 2015 and 2016 were 63.9% and 68.2%, respectively (WHO standard: 100%). The percentage of encounters in which an antibiotic was prescribed in 2015 and 2016 were 378% and 343%, respectively (WHO standard:<30%). The percentage of encounters in which an injection was prescribed in 2015 and 2016 were 1.1% and 3.1%, respectively (WHO standard: 13.4% to 24.1%). The percentage of drugs prescribed from the hospital formulary in 2015 and 2016 were 969% and 982%, respectively (WHO standard: 100%).

Conclusion The prescribing practices tended to show better patterns by time, indicated by lower deviation from the standard. The most significant problem in prescribing practices was the high average number of drugs prescribed per encounter which leads to polypharmacy, followed by a low percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and a high percentage of encounters with antibiotics, which tends to increase treatment cost.

References and/or Acknowledgements 1. World Health Organisation. How to investigate drug use in health facilities: Selected drug use indicators1993.

2. Isah AO, Ross-Degnan D, Quick J, Laing R, Mabadeje AFB. The development of standard values for the WHO drug use prescribing indicators 2004. Nigeria: ICUM/EDM/WHO. http://archives.who.int/prduc2004/rducd/ICIUM_Posters/1a2_txt.html

No conflict of interest

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