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.

Introduction Orally disintegrating tablet (ODT) is a dosage form that overcomes the problem of swallowing which is prevalent in about 35% of the general population. Co-trimoxazole (CTX) is given for patients with HIV for the prophylaxis of opportunistic infection (OI), commonly for pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. It was reported that CTX was associated with a 25–46% reduction in mortality among individuals infected with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Esophageal candidiasis which usually comes along with HIV/AIDS is one of AIDS defining illness affecting up to 1 in 5 of people with AIDS. This opportunistic illness is manifested by painful or difficulty of swallowing. In this respect, CTX ODT offer the advantages of both liquid dosage forms in terms of easy swallowing thereby improve patient compliance and solid dosage forms in terms of dose uniformity, stability, lower production, and transportation costs. The objective of this study was to formulate, characterize and optimize CTX ODT which could overcome swallowing problem and improve patient compliance. Co-trimoxazole ODTs were prepared by direct compression technique using a semi synthetic super disintegrant (crospovidone) along with other excipients. Two taste masking techniques were employed, addition of sweetening agent, and solid dispersion by using a pH sensitive polymer, Eudragit E-100 at different ratios (1:1, 1:2 and 1:3). Taste masking was determined by comparing taste threshold value and in vitro drug release. Preliminary study was used to investigate the effect of crospovidone, compression force (CF) and Hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) on disintegration time, friability and wetting time (WT). Factorial design was used as it enables simultaneous evaluation of formulation variables and their interaction effect. From the preliminary study, the factors that were found significant were further optimized using central composite design. Design-Expert 8.0.7.1 software was employed to carry out the experimental design. The bitterness threshold concentration of Trimethoprim was found to be 150 μg/ml and the in vitro drug release of the three batches of drug to polymer ratio (F1:1, 1:2 and 1:3) was 2.80±0.05, 2.77±0.00 and 2.63±0.00 respectively. From the optimization study, the optimal concentration for the superdisintegrant was 8.60% w/w and a CF of 11.25 KN which gave a rapid disintegration and WT of 13.79 and 23.19 seconds respectively and a friability of 0.666%. Conclusion In this study, co-trimoxazole ODT was formulated successfully. Central composite design was effectively used to model and optimize friability, DT and WT. The method was found effective for estimating the effect of independent variables on the dependent variables by using polynomial equation and surface plots. Optimization of the response variables was possible by using both numerical and graphical optimization and the predicted optimal conditions were confirmed experimentally and were found to be in good agreement within 5% of the predicted responses. The results of the study showed that CTX ODT had significantly rapid disintegration, less than 1% friability and enhanced dissolution profiles. The successful formulation of CTX ODT can solve difficulty of swallowing of conventional tablets for some group of patients which are unable to swallow solid oral dosage form.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease that primarily attacks the human pulmonary system, is caused by a viral strain called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak emerged from Wuhan, China, and later spread throughout the world. Until the first week of May 2020, over 3.7 million cases had been reported worldwide and more than 258,000 had died due to the disease. So far, off label use of various drugs has been tried in many clinical settings, however, at present, there is no vaccine or antiviral treatment for human and animal coronaviruses. Therefore, repurposing of the available drugs may be promising to control emerging infections of SARS-COV2; however, new interventions are likely to require months to years to develop. Glycopeptides, which are active against gram-positive bacteria, have demonstrated significant activity against viral infections including SARS-COV and MERS-COV and have a high resemblance of sequence homology with SARS-COV2. Recent in vitro studies have also shown promising activities of aglycon derivative of glycopeptides and teicoplanin against SARS-COV2. Hydrophobic aglycon derivatives and teicoplanin, with minimal toxicity to human cell lines, inhibit entry and replication of SARS-COV2. These drugs block proteolysis of polyprotein a/b with replicase and transcription domains. Teicoplanin use was associated with complete viral clearance in a cohort of patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms. This review attempts to describe the activity, elucidate the possible mechanisms and potential clinical applications of existing glycopeptides against corona viruses, specifically SARS-COV2.

Background:Patients have explicit desires for quality services when they visit health institutions. Patient satisfaction is a primary means of measuring the effectiveness of healthcare delivery. However, inadequate discovery of their needs may result in patient dissatisfaction. Patients who are satisfied with pharmaceutical care are likely to adherence, seeking for medical attentions and take medications properly. Providing better access to quality pharmacies is a way to improve patient satisfaction with healthcare services. Study Objective:The study was aimed to assess patient satisfaction on pharmacy services at Felege Hiwot comprehensive specialized hospital. Methods:An institution-based cross sectional study design was conducted at FelegeHiwot comprehensive specialized hospital from May 1, 2021 to October 30, 2021. Data was collected by interview with structured questionnaires. Then data was coded, entered and then analyzed by SPSS version 23. The association between predictors and outcome was measured using bivariate logistic regression. Result:In this study 384 study participants were included. Majority of the participants were males (55.37%, N=227). The over-all satisfaction score of participants of this study was65.37%. In our study clients showed greater satisfaction towards pharmacists’ commitment to correct myths (92%), pharmacists availability (88.78) and cleanliness (87.8%). Multivariate analysis indicted physical restriction[AOR=6:95%; CI95%(2.98, 25.9)] and rural residence[AOR=2.43;95%CI(1.71,9.6)] had significant association with pharmacy service dissatisfaction. Among the quality pharmacy service indicators, counseling on how medications work [AOR=9; 95%CI(1.48,8.85)], keeping to dosage regimen [AOR=7.3; 95CI% 5.49,11.06)], and advice on the current medical condition had greater odds of client dissatisfaction. Conclusion: The findings of the current study showed that patients’ satisfaction towards outpatient pharmacy services provided by FelegeHiwot comprehensive specialized hospital is very low as it is indicated in their perceptions towards revealed written information about medication use, medication availability, medication storage, and instruction about medication side effects.

Essential medicines are those that meet the population’s most pressing healthcare needs. As a result, they should always be available in sufficient quantities and the proper dosage forms within health facilities. The study aimed to determine the availability and stock-out duration of essential medicines in Shegaw Motta General Hospital and Motta Health Centre. Descriptive study was conducted at Shegaw Motta General Hospital and Motta Health Centre. The data were collected from June-20 to July-20, 2021 G.C. Fifteen essential medicines from both health facilities’ tracer drug lists were reviewed. The frequency and percentage of availability and stick-out duration were calculated, and the results were briefly described in the text and displayed in tables. The average availability of essential medicines on the day of the survey was 80% and 93.3% in Shegaw Motta general hospital and Motta health center, respectively. Besides, 60% and 20% of the essential medicines were stocked out at least once in the last six months (before the data collection period) in the hospital and health center, respectively. The average stock-out duration in the last six months period (before the data collection period) was 38.8 days (ranges from 10 days to 157 days) in the hospital and 11.2 days in the health center. Ferrous salt + folic acid 150mg + 0.5mg and Medroxy Progesterone injection were the medicines with the longest stock-out duration in Shegaw Motta general hospital and Motta health center, respectively.The average availability of essential medicines was fairly high both in the hospital and health center. In comparison to the hospital, the health center had better availability and a shorter stock-out duration. Over the last six months, a significant percentage of essential medicines were stocked out at the hospital.