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BACKGROUND: Healthcare systems in both developing and developed countries were not free from prescription errors. One of the effects of prescription errors is irrational prescribing. According to the estimation of the World Health Organization (WHO), greater than 50% of medicines are prescribed and dispensed irrationally. On the other hand, research on drug use patterns in the private healthcare sector is scarce. This study aimed to assess prescription Completeness and Drug use Pattern using WHO prescribing indicators in Private Community Pharmacies in Lemi-Kura sub-city. METHODS: Based on the WHO prescribing indicators, a retrospective cross-sectional technique was employed to examine the completeness and drug-prescription patterns. The study was conducted from April to May 2021. Prescriptions, kept for 1 year that was prescribed from March 2020 to March 2021, by private healthcare sectors, were analyzed. A systematic random sampling technique was employed to select prescriptions obtained from private health facilities. Data were analyzed using SPSS® version 26.0 software. RESULTS: Of a total of 1000 prescriptions, 1770 drugs were prescribed and the average number of drugs per prescription was 1.77. Prescriptions for two drugs account for 38% of these, while prescriptions for three drugs account for 15%. Age, sex, and card number were written on 99.0%, 99.2%, and 41.8% of prescriptions, respectively. The patient's name was written on every prescription. Even though the availability of other therapeutic information on the prescription made it appear greater, only 44.2% of prescriptions included the dosage form of medications. The generic name was used for the majority of the medications (67.8%). Furthermore, assuming that each prescription was for a single patient, 71% of patients received antibiotics, and 2% received injectable medicines. The National List of Essential Medicines-Ethiopia was used in 99.6% of the prescriptions. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the finding of this study, the prescribing and prescription completeness indicator showed deviation from the standard recommended by WHO. This situation could be critical since a similar pattern is reported from public healthcare sectors, which might imply the extent of non-adherence to WHO core drug use standards. Consequently, it could play a considerable role in increasing prescription errors in Ethiopia. Hence, in-service training for prescribers should be provided to improve adherence to basic prescription writing.
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BACKGROUND: Globally, adequate asthma control is not yet achieved. The main cause of uncontrollability is nonadherence to prescribed medications. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to assess asthmatic patients' non-adherence to anti-asthmatic medications and the predictors associated with non-adherence. METHODS: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in three governmental hospitals in Bahir Dar city from September 5 to December 12, 2021. The data was collected using the Adherence Starts with Knowledge-12 tool (ASK-12). Systematic random sampling was applied to select study participants. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify predictors of non-adherence. All statistical tests were analyzed using STATA version 16. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of 422 asthmatic patients were included in the study. Most of the study participants (55.4%) did not adhere to their prescribed anti-asthmatic medicines. The educational status of the study participants (AOR = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.00-0.05), family history of asthma (AOR = 0.13, 95% CI = 0.04-0.21), and disease duration that the patients were living with (AOR = 0.01, 95% CI = 0.00-0.01) were the predictors of non-adherence to anti-asthmatic medications. CONCLUSIONS: The level of nonadherence to treatment among patients with asthma was high. Religion, educational status of study participants, family history of asthma, and duration of the disease were the predictors of non-adherence of asthmatic patients to their antiasthmatic medications. Therefore, the Ministry of health, health policy makers, clinicians, and other healthcare providers should pay attention to strengthening the adherence level to antiasthmatic medications, and country-based interventions should be developed to reduce the burden of non-adherence to anti-asthmatic medications.
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INTRODUCTION: The role of community pharmacy professionals has been expanded to patient care and health promotion service globally. However, in Ethiopia, there is a scanty of data on the issue, although the country is dealing with a double burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess community pharmacy professionals' willingness, involvement, beliefs, and barriers to offer extended services for health promotion in Injibara town, Amhara, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among licensed and registered community pharmacy professionals working in Injibara town from June 25 to July 10, 2022. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were presented using descriptive statistics. The data were analyzed using STATA version 16 software. RESULTS: A total of 24 community pharmacy professionals were involved in the study, with a response rate of 92.3%. Approximately 91.7% of them were involved in health promotional services. Of them, 54.1% were willing and strongly believed that their involvement in health promotion services would have a positive impact on promoting health. A total of 60.9% of the community pharmacy professionals reported that they were very involved in family planning and alcohol consumption counseling. Different barriers to not providing health promotion services were also cited. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of community pharmacy professionals in this study is involved in health promotional services but there are also barriers on their involvement. Therefore, governmental strategies to overcome the barriers that hamper their involvement should be designed.
