Prescription of antibiotics among paediatric outpatients at Teaching Hospital-Jaffna

Abstract

Aim of the study was to evaluate prescription of antibiotics among paediatric outpatients at Teaching Hospital-Jaffna.It was a cross sectional descriptive study carried out among the paediatric outpatients in July and August 2014. A data extraction form was developed based on WHO data collection forms and was used to collect the data. Nine drug use indicators which include modified core and complementary WHO drug use indicators and indicators developed by the investigators were used to evaluate antibiotic prescription. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis.Out of 1181 prescriptions of paediatric outpatients, 825 (69.9%) had antibiotics. Average number of antibiotics per prescription was 0.7. Percentage of antibiotics prescribed by generic name, from essential medicine list and for common conditions were 97%, 100% and 91.4% respectively. Percentage of prescriptions with the documentation of reason for prescribing an antibiotic was 97%. Only 3.4% antibiotic prescriptions were complete. Percentage of drug cost spent on antibiotics was 33.2% and average antibiotic cost per encounter was 54.34 Sri Lankan rupees. The most frequently prescribed antibiotic group was penicillins (53.3%). The most common indication for antibiotics was respiratory tract infection (70.3%). Majority of the antibiotics (74%) were prescribed in paediatric dosage form.Good prescribing practice was observed for prescribing in generic name, prescribing the antibiotic from essential medicines list, prescribing for common conditions, documentation of reason for prescribing and prescription of paediatric dosage forms. The completeness of antibiotic prescriptions was poor and needs special attention to improve. The drug use indicators are useful tools to evaluate the antibiotic prescriptions in a setting as well as among different settings.