Medication Prescription in Children: Assessment of Pattern and Completeness in a Tertiary Healthcare Facility in Kwara, Nigeria

Abstract

Background: The most common approach for treating pediatric illness in clinical settings is the use of medication. Children's prescription drug patterns and completeness, however, have not received enough research attention. In order to raise prescription standards and lessen the issues brought on by irrational prescription and usage of medication, it is critical to assess these trends. Objectives: The study's objective was to evaluate the pattern and completeness of pediatric pharmaceutical prescriptions using the WHO prescribing indicators. Methods: It was a six-month retrospective study of prescriptions (1st January, 2022 to 30th June 2022).A total of 705 prescriptions were collected from the pharmacy section of the pediatrics outpatient department. A validated data capture form was used for the study following the WHO prescribing indicator guideline. These indicators were examined, analyzed, and compared to the standard advised by the WHO. SPSS version 20 was used to analyze the data. Results: In our study, we discovered that every prescription indicator evaluated fell short of the WHO recommendation. 3.28 medications on average were prescribed per patient. The percentages of encounters with injections, antibiotics, and other medications by generic name were 57.4%, 77.2%, and 75.6%, respectively. 43.6% of the medications prescribed came from the list of essential medicine. We deduced that all prescriptions for medications were incomplete and that the indicators of drug usage did not follow the WHO recommendation. Therefore, we proposed that programs or initiatives that will promote rational prescription and use of medicines should be instituted.