Antimicrobial prescribing patterns in a group of private primary health care clinics in South Africa

Norah L Katende-Kyenda,Jan Hp Serfontein,Martie S Lubbe,Ilse Truter

doi:10.4102/hsag.v12i1.240

Norah L Katende-Kyenda, Jan Hp Serfontein + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.4102/hsag.v12i1.240

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the prescribing of antimicrobials in private primary health care in South Africa.  ABSTRAK Die doel met hierdie studie was om die voorskryfpatrone van antimikrobiese middels in private primêre gesondheidsorginrigtings in Suid-Afrika te ondersoek.

Highlights

Antimicrobials can be regarded as the most commonly encountered class of drugs in prescriptions (Das, Roy, Kundu, Islam, Ram, Banerjee, Chaudhuri, Dutta & Munshi, 2002:59) and this has led to their abuse globally
Antimicrobials represent the most expensive therapeutic group among medications used in hospitals, and their use comes at a cost, of the medicine itself, but of side-effects and promoting ever-growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics (Kali & Swingler, 2003:508)
Nine private primary health care clinics (25% of the clinics) for which data were electronically available were randomly selected from 33 clinics situated in the different geographical areas of South Africa

Summary

Introduction

Antimicrobials can be regarded as the most commonly encountered class of drugs in prescriptions (Das, Roy, Kundu, Islam, Ram, Banerjee, Chaudhuri, Dutta & Munshi, 2002:59) and this has led to their abuse globally. It has been reported that 20% to 50% of antibiotic prescriptions in community settings are believed to be unnecessary (Hooton & Levy, 2001:1087). Antimicrobials represent the most expensive therapeutic group among medications used in hospitals, and their use comes at a cost, of the medicine itself, but of side-effects and promoting ever-growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics (Kali & Swingler, 2003:508). Antimicrobial resistance results in increased morbidity, mortality, and costs of health care (Shlaes, Gerding, John, Craig, Bornstein, Duncan, Eckman, Farrer, Greene, Lorian, Levy, McGowan, Paul, Ruskin, Tenover & Watanakunakorn, 1997:584). Antimicrobials contribute significantly to the cost of drugs and are claimed worldwide to account for 15% to 30% of the total health budget (Rehana, Nagarani & Rehana, 1998:175). Increasing antibiotic resistance calls for optimal prescription of antimicrobial drugs in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The problem must be addressed by all sectors of the health care system, including patients, health care teams, payers, and the public health system (Dickerson, Mainous & Carek, 2000:711)

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