Drug Use Pattern Using WHO Prescribing Indicators: A Descriptive, Cross-sectional, Retrospective Study

Abstract

It is critical to assess drug use patterns in developing countries using World Health Organization (WHO) drug use indicators in order to promote rational drug use. The purpose of this research was to evaluate drug prescription patterns and the extent of rational prescribing in Tirana, Albania. A descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study of 1000 prescriptions chosen by systematic random sampling from 5000 prescriptions obtained in 8 pharmacies in Tirana was carried out at the outpatient pharmacy. The SPSS package 21 was used to analyse the WHO prescribing indicators. To assess rational prescribing, the index of rational drug prescribing (IRDP) was calculated. The average number of medications prescribed was 2.406.The percentage of medicines prescribed by generic names was 43.85 percent, with an antibiotic and an injection accounting for 53.3 percent and 10.3 percent of prescriptions, respectively. The national essential medicines list accounted for 24.10 percent of all prescriptions. Antibiotics (51.5%), vitamins (49.4%), and NSAIDS (22.70%) were the most commonly prescribed pharmacological groups of medicines. Instead of the ideal value of 5, the IRDP was 2.728.The average number of medicines per prescription, prescriptions with generic names and drugs from the essential medicines list, and IRDP all deviated from the WHO standard. However, there is still work to be done on some issues, such as antibiotic prescribing practise, average number of medicines per prescription, as well as prescribing by national essential medicine list and generic names.