Assessment of antibiotics use and associated problems at Jimma Health Center, South West Ethiopia

Misuse of antibiotics is the main cause for resistance development. The objective of this study is to assess patterns of antibiotics use and associated problems at Jimma Health Center. The study was conducted from February 25, 2016 to March 25, 2016. For the analysis of prescribing indicators retrospectively 295 patient charts that fulfills inclusion criteria were systematically selected from a total of 9800 charts from the health center registry department (from March 8, 2015 to March 25, 2016). Prospectively 120 patients were interviewed. The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.2 and percentage of encounter with antibiotics was 32%. 98.9% of medication was prescribed by their generic name and injection encounter was 9%. Amoxicillin was a commonly prescribed antibiotic during the study period (26%). The average consultation and dispensing time were 5.1 and 1.3 min, respectively and 73% of drugs dispensed were adequately labeled. There was a copy of Ethiopian essential drug list and standard treatment guidelines (STG - 2014). There was no drug formulary during the study period and some antibiotics were not available. Result of this study revealed prescribing practices and average number of drugs per prescription slightly deviate from World Health Organization standard. But generic and injection prescribing as well as use of Ethiopian essential drug list was not a problem.