Assessment of home storage of antimicrobials and its predictors in Mecha demographic surveillance and field research center: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Home storage of antimicrobials is a worldwide practice. Irrational storage and inappropriate use of antimicrobials should get special attention in low-income countries due to limited information, knowledge, and perceptions. This study was conducted to survey home storage of antimicrobials and assess its predictors in Mecha Demographic Surveillance and Field Research Center (MDSFRC), Amhara region, Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 868 households. Predeveloped structured questionnaire was used to collect data on sociodemographics, knowledge on antimicrobials and perception about home stored antimicrobials. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 to execute descriptive statistics, and run binary and multivariable binary logistic regression. P-value < 0.05 was considered significant at 95% confidence level. RESULTS: The total number of households included in this study were 865. Female respondents represent 62.6%. The mean age (±) of respondents was 36.2 (± 13.93) years. The mean family size (±) of the household was 5.1 (± 2.5). Nearly one-fifth (21.2%) of the households stored antimicrobials at home with a condition similar to any household material. Most commonly stored antimicrobials were: Amoxicillin (30.3%), Cotrimoxazole (13.5%), Metronidazole (12.0%), and Ampicillin (9.6%). The most common immediate source of home stored antimicrobials was discontinuation of therapy (70.7%) either from symptomatic improvement (48.1%) or missing doses (22.6%). Predictors of home storage of antimicrobials with corresponding p-value were: age (0.002), family size (0.001), education status (< 0.001), home distance from the nearby healthcare institution (0.004), counseling while obtaining antimicrobials (< 0.001), knowledge level on antimicrobials (< 0.001), and perception of home stored antimicrobials as a wisdom (0.001). CONCLUSION: Substantial proportion of households stored antimicrobials in a condition that may exert selection pressure. To reduce home storage of antimicrobials and its consequences, stakeholders should give due attention to predictors variables related to sociodemographics, level of knowledge on antimicrobials, perception of home storage as a wisdom, and counseling service.

Assessment of Prescription Completeness and Drug Use Pattern in Tibebe-Ghion Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION: Irrational medicine use is a global problem, and one of its manifestation is inappropriate prescribing that occurs when medicines are not prescribed in accordance with the guideline. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to assess prescription completeness and drug use pattern of the hospital using the WHO core drug use indicators. METHODS: 1000 prescriptions were collected retrospectively from prescriptions written for 1 year from outpatient pharmacies of the hospital. Exit interview was employed to assess patient care indicators. The health facility indicators were checked by assessing the presence of drug formulary and availability of key medicines at the facility. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: It was found that only name of the patients was filled in all the prescriptions. Other informations were below the standard. The average number of drugs per prescription was 1.65. Percentages of encounter by generic name, with antibiotic and injections, were 85.78%, 41%, and 25%, respectively. The percentage of drugs prescribed from an essential drug list was 98.48%. The mean consultation time and dispensing time were 14.49 and 2.16 minutes, respectively. More than half patients had knowledge on drug dispensed to them (68%). The percentage of drugs actually dispensed was 65%, but none of the drugs dispensed were adequately labelled. A copy of EDL and 84% of the key drugs were available in the hospital. CONCLUSION: From the results of our study, it can be concluded that all prescriptions were not complete, and except the average number of drugs prescribed per encounter, the other drug use pattern indicators were out of the WHO recommendation. Therefore, effective intervention program, like training, for promotion of rational drug use practice was recommended.