Prescription Practices and Patterns of Antibiotics used in Children Attending the Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital
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Date
2018-07
Authors
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Publisher
University of Ghana
Abstract
Introduction: Globally, antibiotic use in humans increased by 36% from 2000 to 2010, of
which 50% was regarded as inappropriate use. There is high prevalence of antibiotic use in
Ghana which is associated with inappropriate use.Whilst antibiotics use in developed countries
reduced by 4% between 2000 and 2015 there was 75% increase in low and middle income
countries during the same period. This may increase the potential for resistance developing
against the antibiotics which may pose a great threat to public health.
Objectives: This study assessed prescription practices and pattern of antibiotics use in patients
attending the Princess Marie Louise children’s hospital in Accra, Ghana.
Methods: Folders of patients who had accessed care at the Princess Marie Children’s Hospital
from 1st January 2013 to the 31st December 2015 were selected and reviewed. The antibiotic
prescription practices and patterns in the hospital were assessed using the WHO guideline for
assessing the average number of medicines prescribed per encounter, prescription by generic
name, injections and prescription from the national essential medicine list. During assessment,
descriptive analysis was made. Relationship between antibiotic use and indicators like
diagnosis, age of patient and sex of patient were also analysed using the Pearson chi squared
test. A pretested questionnaire was administered to prescribers to assess adherence to the
Standard Treatment Guideline.
Results: Out of the 422 folders reviewed Amoksiklav was the highest prescribed antibiotic
(145) (34.7%) followed by Cefuroxime (98) (23.2%) and Augmentin (95) (22.5%). The major
indication for antibiotic prescription was Upper Respiratory Tract Infection (146/422) (34.6%) and fevers (102/422) (24.2%). The average drug encounter per patient was 3.2. Drugs
prescribed from the Essential Medicine List was 71.4%. There were no injectables. Of the ten
prescribers interviewed, 8 (80 %) had the Standard Treatment Guideline, 4 (40 %) used it
regularly and 7 (70 %) prescribed an antibiotic before further investigation were done. A
prescribed gave antibiotics to patients depending on the severity of presenting ailment.
Conclusion
The study showed that majority the study population were below 5 years and most of
prescribers interviewed prescribed an antibiotic before further investigation was conducted.
This has serious public health implications as some of the children whose condition will not
require an antibiotic would be given antibiotic and potentially increase antibiotic resistance.
The use of Who Core Drug Indicators was commendable
Description
MSc.
Keywords
Antibiotics, Children, Princess Marie Louise Children’s Hospital