Assessment of inpatient antibiotic use in Halibet National Referral Hospital using WHO indicators: a retrospective study

Abstract

ObjectiveInappropriate use of antibiotics in primary care and hospital settings is a major contributing factor to the spread of antibiotic resistance. Many microorganisms were tested in Eritrea and have proven resistant to ampicillin. The aim of this study was to investigate the prescription pattern, hospital indicator and patient care indicator of antibiotics among hospitalized patients in Halibet National Referral Hospital, Asmara, Eritrea.ResultsThe data on prescription patterns showed 79% of hospitalizations had at least one antibiotic prescribed and on average 1.29 antibiotics were prescribed per hospitalization; prescribing using generic name was at 97%; all (100%) of the antibiotics were prescribed from the Eritrean National List of Medicines. On average an antibiotic was prescribed for 6.36 days (SD = 6.06). Ampicillin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic (42.1%) and parenteral was the most common route prescribed (81.4%). The data on hospital indicators showed key antibiotics were out of stock on average for 78.18 days; 87.5% of key antibiotics were available on the day of the study. The data on patient care indicator showed patients taking antibiotics stayed in the hospital for 9.97 days (± 7.33 days).Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13104-018-4000-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

<p>Prescribing Pattern of Antibiotics Using WHO Prescribing Indicators Among Inpatients in Ethiopia: A Need for Antibiotic Stewardship Program</p>

“…40 On the other hand, our prescribing rate of antibiotics was low compared to the results reported from other studies conducted in southwest Ethiopia (64.7%), 41 southern Ethiopia (58.1%), 23 and Harar, eastern Ethiopia (66.9%). 42 Similarly, it was also lower than in studies reported from Eritrea (79.05% and 69%), 27,43 Congo (68%), 44 India (66%), 45 and Pakistan (82.3%). 6 On the other hand, our result for the percentage of patients on at least one prescribed antibiotic was higher than rates of 32.0% reported in Ayder hospital, northern Ethiopia, 26 24.37% in Welo town, Ethiopia, 46 29.4% in Gondar hospital, Ethiopia, 47 and 36.71% in Cameroon.…”

“…42,50 On the other hand, our finding was higher than the optimal values and lower than findings reported from Eritrea and Congo, in which 1.29 and 1.4 antibiotics per patient were prescribed, respectively. 27,44 A striking finding from our study was that all (100%) of the prescribed antibiotics were from the EML of Ethiopia. 35 This is consistent with the study conducted in Eritrea, 27 in which all (100%) of antibiotics were prescribed from the national EML.…”

“…27,44 A striking finding from our study was that all (100%) of the prescribed antibiotics were from the EML of Ethiopia. 35 This is consistent with the study conducted in Eritrea, 27 in which all (100%) of antibiotics were prescribed from the national EML. This could be explained by the fact that public hospitals in Ethiopia procure most of their medicines from the government supplier, which predominantly supplies medicines based on the national EML.…”

“…Data were collected following the pre-tested structured questionnaire and standard antibiotic prescribing indicators generated by the WHO, and we used a questionnaire adapted from similar studies. 1,6,27 Indicators are categorized into prescribing indicators, hospital indicators, patient care indicators, and complementary indicators. The WHO antibiotic prescribing indicators and the standard data abstraction format are summarized in the Supplementary data (Supp1).…”

Prescribing practices using WHO prescribing indicators and factors associated with antibiotic prescribing in six community pharmacies in Asmara, Eritrea: a cross-sectional study

“…Eritrea, a small developing country in the horn of Africa, is faced with the challenges of irrational medicine use and implementing rational use of medicines. A recent study conducted in the inpatient setting of a tertiary Eritrean hospital reported a high rate of antibiotic use [27]. Thus studying the prescribing behaviors would help in paving a way towards the introduction of ASP in Eritrean hospitals.…”