Evaluation of Pattern of Drug Use in Tertiary Health Care Setting in Central Tigray Using WHO Prescribing Indicators

Background: Rational drug use entails a multi-collaborative effort which encompasses various professionals. Prescribing indicator is among the WHO core drug use indicators used to investigate the rational drug use in healthcare facilities. The objective of the study was to evaluate rational drug use using WHO prescribing indicators in Aksum University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (AkUCSH). Methods: A facility based cross sectional study design was employed which was conducted between April and May 2019. Records of patients at Out-patient Pharmacy administered from April 01 2018 to March 31 2019 were the study population. Based on WHO recommendation, a total of 600 patient prescriptions were included. A systematic random sampling technique was used to include patient prescriptions fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A structured data collection tool was used to collect data and necessary supervision was done during the data collection process. Data was entered in to, checked, and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 24. Results: Totally, 1053 drugs were prescribed in 600 prescriptions. The average number of drug prescribed per encounter was found to be 1.78 (SD±0.91). Encounters prescribed using generic name were 95.63% (1007). Moreover, about 99.5% (1048) prescribed medicines were within the Essential Medicines List (EML). Of a total of 1053 prescribed medicines, 49.2% (295) and 4.0% (24) were antibiotics and injections, respectively. Conclusion: Our finding revealed, a suboptimal level of rational drug use is found in tertiary healthcare setting of central Tigray. Appropriate strategies should be developed and implemented to promote rational drug use.