TITLE:
Assessment of Rational Prescribing in General Outpatient Department of Kampala International University Teaching Hospital, Western Uganda
AUTHORS:
Amamchukwu Ambrose Akunne, Wafula Innocent Lam, Joseph O. C. Ezeonwumelu, Jennifer Chibuogwu Ebosie, Bede Emeka Udechukwu
KEYWORDS:
KIUTH, INRUD indicators, Keywords: Rational drug prescribing, Uganda, WHO, GOPD
JOURNAL NAME:
Pharmacology & Pharmacy,
Vol.10 No.1,
January
17,
2019
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Prevention of
irrational use of medicines may reduce healthcare costs and potentially save
lives. Aim: The aim of this study was to assess rational drug
prescribing using World Health Organization (WHO) and International Network of
Rational Use of Drugs (INRUD) indicators on prescribing in the General
Outpatient Department of Kampala International University Teaching Hospital,
Ishaka-Bushenyi, Western Uganda. Methodology: The study design was
retrospective, descriptive and cross-sectional. A
total of 884 prescriptions were selected by systematic sampling using an
interval of 27 from 23,868 prescriptions available in the medical records of
the General Out-Patient Department (GOPD) of
Kampala International University Teaching Hospital (KIUTH) from April, 2016 to
March, 2017. The selected samples were analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2013, to
assess for conformity with the prescribing indicators. Results: The
results showed that the percentage of recording of diagnosis was 90.72% (index
of diagnosis—0.91). The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.6
(index of non-polypharmacy—0.77), and the percentage of drugs prescribed with the generic name was 90.21% (index of generics—0.9). Percentages of
encounters with antibiotics and injectable drugs prescribed were 61.88% (index
of antibiotics—0.48) and 5.43% (index of injectable drugs—1) respectively. Only
78.96% (index of EMSLU—0.79) of the medicines prescribed were from the
Essential Medicines Supplies List of Uganda (EMSLU) or Uganda Clinical
Guidelines 2016. The index of rational drug prescribing (IRDP) was found to be
4.85. Conclusion: The findings showed that only the percentage of
encounters with injectable drugs was in line with WHO/INRUD prescribing
indicators. On the over all, the index of rational drug prescribing (IRDP) was
poor (observed 4.85 versus optimum 6). The authors recommended continuous sensitization,
counselling and education of prescribers in KIUTH in order to achieve rational
prescribing.