title: Compliance with the guidelines of prescription writing in a central hospital in the West Bank.
abstract: This retrospective, cross-sectional study was carried out to evaluate the quality of 2208 outpatient prescriptions in a central hospital in the West Bank, Palestine. The physicians' handwriting was poorly readable or illegible in one-third of the prescriptions. The prescriber's name and signature and patient's name were mentioned in almost all orders whereas the patient's age was stated in 54.9%. The vast majority of physicians (95.5%) prescribed drugs using their trade (brand) names. Drug strength, quantity and dose/frequency were stated in 61.1%, 76% and 73.8% of prescriptions respectively. Only 33 prescriptions (1.5%) contained full directions for use for all drugs. Correlation analysis revealed that the presence of certain prescription elements was statistically significantly associated with the clinic of origin and the number of drugs prescribed. The overall poor legibility and incompleteness of the prescriptions is of concern.
authors: Faculty of Medicine, Al-Quds University, Abu Dis, West Bank, Palestine. yasin.tayem@gmail.com
authors: Y I
authors: YI
authors: Tayem
authors: M A
authors: MA
authors: Ibrahim
authors: M M
authors: MM
authors: Qubaja
authors: R K
authors: RK
authors: Shraim
authors: O B
authors: OB
authors: Taha
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Abu Shkhedem
mesh_terms: D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008877:Middle East; D010820:Physicians; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies