Antibiotic Prescribing Practice in a Paediatric Outpatient Clinic in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria

Background: Antibiotics are amongst the most frequently prescribed drugs for children in outpatient clinics but irrational prescribing can cause medication errors, antibiotic resistance and treatment failure.  Examples of irrational prescribing includes poly-pharmacy, over use of injections, inappropriate use of antimicrobials and failure to prescribe in accordance with treatment guidelines. This study sought to assess antibiotic prescribing practice in the children’s outpatient clinic of the Federal university teaching hospital Owerri, Imo state. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive prospective study carried out in the Children’s Outpatient Clinic (CHOP) of the Federal university teaching hospital Owerri, Imo state Nigeria between April and June 2021. During the study period, medical record of patients who attended the CHOP and who had antibiotic(s) prescribed were collated. Prescribing practice was assessed using the World Health Organization prescribing indicators. Results: A total of 495 antibiotic prescriptions were made for 478 patients.  This gave 1.04 as the average number of medicines prescribed per patient encounter.  1.6% of the antibiotics were prescribed as injections and 79.2% of the prescriptions were in generic names. While only 96.8% of the prescriptions were from the Nigerian essential drug list, the three most prescribed antibiotics Amoxicillin/Clavulanic acid, Cefuroxime and Amoxicillin are all listed in it. Conclusion: The antibiotic prescribing practice in the children’s outpatient clinic was rational with regards to average number of medications per patient encounter and percentage of encounters with injection prescribed.  It was irrational in terms of percentage of antibiotics prescribed in generic names and percentage of antibiotics prescribed from the Nigerian essential drug list.