Antibiotic prescribing patterns at a level one hospital using national treatment guidelines prescribing indicators in Zambia

Abstract

Background: Poor Prescribing patterns can greatly have a negative impact on patient care outcomes. With the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics there tends to be antibiotic resistance, unnecessary expenditure on drugs, and increased risk of adverse reactions. The aim of this study was to assess antibiotic prescribing patterns at Matero level one hospital in the adult admission wards Lusaka, Zambia.Methods:A retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken data was collected using one-year patients records and administration of questionnaires to prescribers.385 patientrecord files were selected using random sampling techniqueand 9prescribers were enrolled using convenience sampling. National treatment guidelines were utilized to measure rational use of drugs with due focus on antibiotics prescribing patterns. The collected data was analyzed using statistical packages for social science (SPSS) version 23 and reported as Frequencies and percentages.Results: Out of 385 patient files evaluated, 290 (75.3%) were prescribed with antibiotic(s). A total of 404 antibiotics were prescribed from 290 patient encounters. The average number for the most commonly prescribed antibiotics per prescription was 1.9 Benzylpenicillin (29.7%)followed by co-trimoxazole and metronidazole (19.3%), ceftriaxone (17.0%) and gentamicin (16.3%). The most prevalent conditions were tuberculosis (11.9%), sepsis (10.9%), gastroenteritis (9.6%) Anaemia (9.3%) and Alcohol intoxication (5.7%). lack of bacteriological tests was the main problem. Conclusion: Given thedeviation from recommended standards of prescribing antibiotics, Interventions aimed at improving the antibiotic prescribing patterns need to be implemented so as to prevent the inappropriate use of antibiotics and avoid further complications.