Drug use practices at pediatric hospitals of Khartoum State, Sudan.
BACKGROUND
Irrational drug utilization is a major concern in developing countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed first-level informative indicators in assessing drug use practices and encouraging improvement in the quality of patient care.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the current drug use practices in 4 pediatric teaching hospitals in Khartoum State, and to compare the results with studies conducted in Sudan and other developing countries.


METHODS
A descriptive, quantitative, and cross-sectional study using the WHO drug use indicators methodology was conducted in the outpatient settings of 4 pediatric hospitals. The study sample was selected using systematic random sampling. In each hospital, prescribing was assessed through a collection of 150 prescriptions, determination of consultation time and dispensing time for 150 patients, and by interview of 150 patients for the evaluation of dispensing practices and parents' knowledge.


RESULTS
The mean number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 2.0 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.1); 49.3% (95% CI 46.3 to 52.4) were prescribed by generic name, 81.3% (95% CI 77.9 to 84.3) of prescriptions involved an antibiotic, and 3.5% (95% CI 2.2 to 5.4) of prescriptions were in injection form. The mean consultation and dispensing times were 4.7 minutes (95% CI 4.4 to 5.1) and 28.2 seconds (95% CI 26.5 to 29.9), respectively. The percentage of drugs actually dispensed was 80.1% (95% CI 77.9 to 82.2), 55.7% (95% CI 52.0 to 59.4) of drugs were adequately labeled, and 83.5% (95% CI 80.2 to 86.3) of parents knew the correct dosage of all drugs dispensed for their children. The percentage of availability of key drugs was 81.3% (95% CI 77.1 to 84.9). The essential medicines list was not available at the 4 hospitals.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings reveal problem areas in prescribing and dispensing practices in pediatric hospitals. Further in-depth quantitative research to answer the shortcomings of this study and cost-effective multifaceted interventions to improve current drug use practices are highly needed to secure the quality of medical care in pediatric hospitals.
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.
Anas M
AM
Ahmed
Abdelmoneim I
AI
Awad
D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006776:Hospitals, Pediatric; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013397:Sudan; D013997:Time Factors; D014944:World Health Organization