Assessment of Drug Prescribing in Jordan Using World Health Organization Indicators

Abstract

Background: Irrational drug use is a major public health problem worldwide. Patterns of prescribing of pharmaceuticals by physicians in Jordan have been scarcely studied. Objectives: To assess the drug prescribing patterns using World Health Organization Drug Use Indicators at 7 primary health care centers in Amman, the capital of Jordan. Methods: We prospectively evaluated 1055 prescriptions over a period of 2 months from May/2017 to July/2017, using the WHO prescribing indicators recommended protocol. Core prescribing indicators assessed in this study included the average number of drugs per prescription, the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, the percentage of prescriptions containing injections, the percentage of prescriptions containing antibiotics, and the percentage of drugs from the essential drugs list. Results: Our results showed that the average number of drugs per prescription was 3.0, the percentage of drugs written by generic name was 50.3%, the percentage of drugs written from essential drug list was 97.6%, and the percentages of prescriptions that contain injections and antibiotics were 7.1%, 61.0%, respectively. Conclusion: Three of the 5 indicators, namely, the average number of drugs per prescription, the percentage of drugs written by generic name, and the percentage of prescriptions that contain antibiotics, fell short of WHO optimal values indicating that there is a room for improvement in prescribing.