Injection prescribing patterns in public health care facilities in Egypt.
This study assessed the frequency of and rationale for use of injections at health care facilities in Egypt based on WHO core drug use indicators. We reviewed 1406 prescriptions in 43 randomly selected hospitals and primary health care clinics in 2 governorates in Upper and Lower Egypt in 2001. Patients received an injection at 18.1% of encounters. The most frequently prescribed parenteral drugs were anti-infectives (56.9% of injections) and analgesics (13.7%). Injections were more often prescribed in hospitals than in primary health care clinics and in rural than in urban settings. Most injections (94.7%) could have been replaced by a suitable oral preparation. Further efforts are needed to enforce the essential medicines programme in Egypt to improve rational drug prescribing.
Bodenschatz
C
C
Infection Control Unit, US Naval Medical Research Unit No.3, Cairo, Egypt. haeschatz@datacomm.ch
Talaat
M
M
Kandeel
A
A
Lohiniva
A L
AL
Radwan
E
E
Mahoney
F
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017723:Drug Utilization Review; D018954:Drugs, Essential / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004534:Egypt; D005260:Female; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007273:Injections, Intramuscular / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
D000700:Analgesics; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D018954:Drugs, Essential