title: Antimalarial prescription in a public hospital outpatient setting in Kenya: A best practice implementation project.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Important gaps still exist in malaria case management despite implementation of the World Health Organization parasitological diagnosis before treatment recommendation. This calls for evidence-based strategies to improve health providers' adherence to these guidelines.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this project was to improve adherence of confirmed parasitological diagnosis prior to antimalarial prescription in the outpatient department.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System program was used to facilitate collection of baseline and post-audit data. The Getting Research into Practice program was also utilized to analyze the potential barriers and for designing the intervention strategies. This study was done during a 7-month period in an outpatient department of public health facility in Kenya.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline and post-implementation audit results comparison indicate that there was a clinically significant improvement in all three criteria. One hundred percent of health providers underwent training on malaria case management, an improvement from 24% at baseline. Almost all (98%) suspected cases for malaria were tested for malaria parasite, and 98% doses of antimalarial drug dispensed had documentation indicating that the malaria test result was positive, an increase of 74%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study successfully increased the adherence to malaria parasitological confirmation before the treatment recommendation. The interdepartmental collaboration facilitated improvements that led to a reduction in presumptive prescription of antimalarial drugs, antimalarial medication costs, and potentially the emergence of drug resistance.
authors.affiliation: 1Huruma Sub-County Hospital, Department of Health Services, Uasin Gishu County 2Afya Research Africa, Joanna Briggs Institute Centre of Excellence, Nairobi, Kenya 3School of Medicine, Vaccinology and Immunology Research Trials Unit, Women's and Children's Hospital, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia 4Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, Research Department, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya.
authors.forename: Henry K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Amdany
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McMillan
authors.forename: Peninah
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kiptoo
mesh_terms: D000962:Antimalarials / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D019090:Case Management; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000469:parasitology; D010045:Outpatients; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials