Rational Drug Prescribing of Providers of the Mutual District Health Insurance of Lawra District

Abstract

Rational use of drugs is one of the major priority issues in health systems worldwide. Analysing prescriptions is fundamental to evaluating rational use of drugs in health facilities. Irrational prescribing in Lawra district is a concern to health care delivery (DDHS personal communication, 2009). Some of the reasons identified include: Inadequate personnel and middle to low level staff such as community health officers, nurses and medical assistants are the main prescribers (DDHS Personal communication, 2010). This project was undertaken to analyse drug prescribing practices in health facilities in Lawra district and the reasons associated. A cross-sectional study using quantitative and qualitative methods were used to evaluate 300 prescriptions by a systematic random selection from all public health facilities in Lawra |district from September to December 2009. Additionally, 12 providers and 10 facility managers were purposively selected and interviewed. Analysis followed WHO recommended core indicators. The mean number of drugs prescribed at each encounter was 3.2. The results showed that 87% drugs were prescribed by generic name, 94% of drugs prescribed were from EDL. The percentage of encounters with prescriptions containing antibiotics and injections were 40% and 26% respectively. The prescribing pattern in health facilities in Lawra district was associated with polypharmacy, over prescribing of antibiotics and injections, however, there is high prescription of drugs by generic names. Keywords: Rational use of drugs, Lawra, polypharmacy, generic, injections, antibiotics and EDL.