An audit of prescribing practices in health care facilities of the Wassa West district of Ghana.

Bosu, William and Ofori-Adjei, David (2000) An audit of prescribing practices in health care facilities of the Wassa West district of Ghana. West African Journal of Medicine, 19 (4). pp. 298-303.

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Abstract

While many health districts recognise that irrational prescribing leads to wastage of drugs, few monitor prescribing practices. We investigated drug use in government health facilities in the Wassa West district of Ghana. Retrospective prescribing data were obtained from 700 outpatients' clinical record cards in 7 government health facilities in the district. Prescribing patterns were significantly worse in the health centres than in the district hospital in terms of polypharmacy, use of injectable drugs and antibiotics. Overall, 4.8 drugs were prescribed per patient, 97% of drugs were on the national essential drugs list and 65% of drugs were prescribed by their generic names. Antibiotics and injectable drugs were prescribed for 60% and 80% patients respectively. The observed patterns were related to the cadre of prescribers, availability of diagnostic facilities, participation in recent refresher training and patient demand. Measures to improve prescribing practices are discussed.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
West African Journal of Medicine
ID Code:
131633
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
27 Feb 2019 14:15
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
28 Nov 2023 11:30