title: Intervention studies on rational use of drugs in public and private sector in Nepal.
abstract: In developing countries, inappropriate, inefficient and ineffective use of pharmaceuticals have resulted into the poor health and medical cares for the community people. For improving the situation, various interventions have been tested and proved effective in different settings. In Nepal also, various strategies have been tested and found effective to improve the prescribing and dispensing practices. This paper has examined the process and results of different studies. The educational intervention, the training has not been effective in improving the prescribing practices but has limited effect on dispensing practices in the public sector. However, it becomes effective in improving prescribing practices if combined with a managerial intervention e.g. peer-group discussion. In private sector, training alone is effective in changing the drug recommendation practices of retailers. But none of interventions have been found to be effective in improving dispensing practices. After examining the effectiveness of different interventions, training combined with peer-group discussion is recommended for piloting in all Primary Health Care (PHC) outlets of a district to improve the prescribing practices. For improving the dispensing practices in both public and private sector, additional studies have to be carried out using different strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Medicine, TU, Teaching Hospital, Nepal. inrud@healthnet.org.np
authors.forename: Kumud Kumar
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kafle
authors.forename: Naveen
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.forename: Shiba Bahadur
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Karkee
authors.forename: Radha Raman
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Gajendra Bahadur
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Bhuju
authors.forename: Prabhakar Lal
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004512:Education, Pharmacy; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D009390:Nepal; D011320:Primary Health Care; D017149:Private Sector; D017150:Public Sector