Drugs Prescribing Patterns and Practices at UNRWA Health Centers – Gaza Governorates
Date
2012-06-04
Authors
Mona Arafat El Baba
منى عرفات البابا
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Al-Quds University
Abstract
The practice of rational drug prescribing is of great importance for the safety of patients and the
health facility expenditure. This study aimed to examine prescription patterns among prescribers
working at UNRWA health centers and to determine their level of adherence to WHO standards of
drug use indicators.
The popula"on of the study consisted of #$% prescribers and the sample si&e was #'# prescribers
()$ males and *+ females,- with response rate %%..%/ and #+'# prescrip"ons from all UNRWA
health centers in Ga&a Strip. For data collection- constructed- self administered questionnaire and
checklist for drug indicators were used.
For data analysis- the researcher used frequencies- means- standard deviation- Chi square and
One way ANOVA test.
The results showed that ))/ of study par"cipants reported knowing the meaning of essen"al
drugs- )6.6/ knew the meaning of generic name- $6.'/ knew the generic name for all prescribed
drugs.
**.*/ knew the generic name for most of the drugs and )).#/ were familiar with the concepts of
standards treatment guidelines.
Only '*.$/ used generic name very o7en- $$.$/ used generic name o7en and only '*.*/
received training about prescribing patterns. Also- )).8/ reported that a copy of 9:; was
available- )8.6/ were using the 9:;- of them- 6'.8/ found that 9:; was easy to be used.
Regarding shortage of drugs- +$.*/ of study par"cipants said that they experienced shortage of
drugs and +8.8/ reported that the main shortage was in antibiotics followed by dermatological
drugs (*8.'/, and NSA<:s (*#.$/,.
The ma=ority of study par"cipants )6.#/ said that there is a monitoring system for prescribing of
drugs- )'.$/ said that there is a wri>en technical instruc"ons for prescribing- only '..'/ received
wri>en feedback and 8+.'/ received verbal feedback regarding their prac"ce. Concerning drug
use indicators- the mean number of prescribed drugs was '.%% per prescrip"on- percentage drugs
prescribed by generic name was '8.$- percentage of prescribed an"bio"cs was *'.6- percentage
of drugs prescribed from 9:; was 6).*% and percentage pf prescribed in=ec"ons was *.#.
The results indicated that the highest rate of prescribing drugs in general and from 9:; was from
North governorate- the highest number of prescribed drugs was in general ?les (m @ '.)', and the
lowest was in mother ?les (m @ '.%.,. The highest rate of prescribing drugs was in the third #.
days of the month (m @ '.6+,.
The study concluded that further educational activities should be taken to achieve rational
prescribing and standards of drug use indicators.