Assessment of inpatient parenteral antibiotic use in Kiruddu National Referral Hospital

Abstract

Background. Parenteral antibiotic use is a complex system that involves the prescribers, dispensers, nurses and the patients. This is influenced mainly by factors such as prescribing criteria and experience, essential medicines list compliance, parenteral antibiotics availability and actual administered parenteral antibiotics after dispensing. Objective. To assess the inpatient parenteral antibiotic use in KIRUDDU NATIONAL REFERRAL HOSPITAL. Methods. Retrospective cross sectional study was used to collect data with a sample size of 210, necessary research data was obtained from prescribers in the general wards, dispensers in the ward pharmacy, nurses in the wards and patient treatment sheets or files. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from prescribers, dispenser, and nurses after seeking their verbal consent plus patient treatment sheets. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the participants in the study. Data was entered double checked and edit using online google forms and analyzed using python software version 3.7.2. Results. Parenteral antibiotic therapy was initiated after obtaining positive laboratory results of patients. Prescription by generic name was 93.1%, compliance to essential medicines list was 100%. The two most commonly prescribed parenteral antibiotic was ceftriaxone 58.8% and metronidazole 23.0%. Availability of parenteral antibiotics at the ward pharmacy was 83.3% and the administration of parenteral antibiotics to patients was 67.3% and missed doses accounted for 33.7%. Conclusion. According to the study results, prescription by generic name, availability of parenteral antibiotics at ward pharmacies and their administration were all slightly below the required standards set by WHO. Missed doses which stimulate and accelerate antibiotic resistance should be prevent and antibiotic stewardship programmes are highly encouraged. The administrators of the hospital should ensure at all times the availability of parenteral antibiotics to prevent missed doses and antibiotic complications.