Comparative prescription patterns of antipsychotics among schizophrenic patients attending two public health facilities in North-Eastern and North-Central Nigeria: a crosssectional study

Abstract

In the care of patients, assessment of the use of drugs is very imperative as it shows the quality of care delivered to patients by the caregivers. The study aimed to compare the prescription patterns of antipsychotics in two public healthcare facilities in Nigeria using a standardized World Health Organization instrument. The studies were conducted at the General Hospital, Offa (GHO), Kwara State, and the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri (FNPHMM), Borno State. Ethical approvals were obtained from the studied facilities. A total of 625 prescriptions in each of the facilities were selected by random sampling. Frequency distributions and student t-test were used. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 3.9 in the GHO, while 1.2 was recorded in the FNPHMM. Injections were prescribed in 14.4% and 18.7% of encounters in the GHO and the FNPHMM, respectively. One hundred percent (100.0%) of the drugs were prescribed by generic name in the GHO and 98.2% in the FNPHMM. The percentage of drugs from the National Essential Drug List was 72% in the FNPHMM and 100% in the GHO. The prescribing indicators assessed were found to be below standard in the FNPHMM while the GHO showed polytherapy.