Abstract
Inappropriate drug prescribing is a global problem affecting the healthcare system. This study was performed to assess the drug prescribing pattern in geriatric, paediatric and obstetrics and gynaecology department. Patient's chances of exposure to poly pharmacy are more, therefore, this study was carried out to find out the rational use of prescribed drugs in Jazan general hospital. A prospective cross sectional (descriptive) study was carried out and a total of 3070 prescriptions were collected for the study during November, 2012 to October, 2013. 1034, 1024, and 1012 prescriptions from geriatric, pediatric and obstetrics and gynaecology department respectively were collected. The average numbers of drugs used per patient were 3.1, 7.4 and 3.3 for geriatric, pediatric and obstetrics and gynaecology department patients respectively. Prescription pattern of the drugs for pediatric patients consists of antibiotics, analgesics and antipyretics mainly. For geriatric patients among systemic route, commonly prescribed therapeutic class of medications were antibacterials (70.5%), and among oral route, pantoprazole was the most commonly prescribed medication (61.2%). For obstetrics and gynaecology department patients the most frequently prescribed drugs were oral iron, folic acid preparations, antibiotics and analgesics. There is a high level of exposure to medication in paediatric and geriatric population. In obstetrics and gynaecology department, the average numbers of drugs per prescription were slightly higher compared to the standard set by World Health Organisation (WHO) but majority of the drugs were prescribed as per United State Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) category A (the safest category during pregnancy). Key words: Drug prescription pattern, Jazan General Hospital.  
Highlights
Rational use of drugs is one of the major problems that health care providers and hospital administrators face nowadays in many countries (Thomas et al, 1997)
Patient's chances of exposure to poly pharmacy are more, this study was carried out to find out the rational use of prescribed drugs in Jazan general hospital
In obstetrics and gynaecology department, the average numbers of drugs per prescription were slightly higher compared to the standard set by World Health Organisation (WHO) but majority of the drugs were prescribed as per United State Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) category A
Summary
Rational use of drugs is one of the major problems that health care providers and hospital administrators face nowadays in many countries (Thomas et al, 1997). Various studies have been conducted in developing and developed countries during past few years regarding safe and effective use of drugs.
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