Abstract

Akunne OO and Adedapo ADA

Rational drug use is consequential to effective management of chronic conditions such as hypertension. This study was carried out to compare the quality of prescription in patients attending the outpatient clinics of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria against standard values and to compare study findings with similar studies carried out in other parts of the country. One thousand nine hundred and seventy-two case notes were reviewed following each clinic. Quality of prescription was assessed using WHO prescribing indicators. There were 58.4% females and 41.6% males of an average aged of 59.6±11.8 years. Average number of drugs per encounter was 3.9. Only 56.9% of drugs were prescribed by their generic name. Percentage of encounters containing antibiotic and injection were 3.6% and 0.9% respectively. About 87.7% of drugs prescribed were from the essential drug list. The most prescribed drug aside from antihypertensives was aspirin occurring in 843 (43.7%) of the 1927 eligible encounters. Quality of prescription in Ibadan, Nigeria as with other parts of the country was found to be low. Although, use of antibiotics and injection was low, poly-pharmacy and low prescription of drugs by their generic names were observed, educational interventions are needed to improve prescribing quality.