अमूर्त

An assessment of the quality of antibiotic prescription in Katutura health centre, Khomas region.

Jacob Sheehama, Linda Van Zyl, Vetja Hakuuria

Background: Although the discovery of antibiotics revolutionized medicine and reduced mortality and morbidity rates, antibiotic resistance is a threat to these advances in medicine as infections are again rendered untreatable and causing a significant number of deaths worldwide. The Namibian Standard Treatment Guidelines which if followed, would standardize treatment of conditions in the country according to acceptable guidelines, preventing inappropriate and unnecessary prescriptions of medicines, serve as current prescription guidelines. The hypothesis of the researcher was that prescribers are frequently non-compliant to the Namibian Standard Treatment Guidelines.

Methodology: Katutura Health Centre was the chosen representative facility and prescriptions were evaluated and compliance to the Namibian Standard Treatment Guidelines was assessed as well as the qualification of the prescriber, the diagnoses made and the antibiotics prescribed. Patient passports were screened at the dispensing points and details were recorded concerning antibiotic prescriptions. The data was evaluated for Namibian Standard Treatment Guidelines compliance and entered into EpiInfo version 7.1.1.14 and analysed.

Results and Discussion: Prescribers were 51% compliant. Medical Officers wrote 66% of the prescriptions, Registered nurses 23% and Enrolled nurses 11%, with a compliance rate of 50%, 66% and 23% respectively. Respiratory and urogenital conditions were most prevalent and had poor compliance. Commonly prescribed antibiotics were Amoxicillin, Azithromycin and Metronidazole with respective rates of 46.25%, 23.08% and 13.29% for the three respectively. This correlates with a study done in Namibia, stating that the three most commonly indicated antibiotics in the NSTG were Cotrimoxazole, Amoxicillin and Azithromycin (CAA) at 49.3%.