Assessment of Drug Use in a Tertiary Hospital in Southeast Nigeria Based on Who Core Drug Use Indicators

Background: Irrational use of medicines is a global phenomenon and an issue of concern with so many undesirable consequences. The complex nature of the pharmaceutical care process is an indication for an essential tool that investigates drug use pattern in health facilities. The WHO released the core drug use indicators to address these issues. The study assessed drug use in a tertiary hospital in southeast Nigeria based on WHO core drug use indicators. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used and the study was conducted from October 2021 to June 2022. Retrospectively, 300 prescriptions were selected and reviewed using systematic random sampling for a year from 2020 -2021 to investigate prescribing indicators. A total of 120 randomly selected patients and pharmacy personnel were observed and interviewed to investigate the patient-care and facility-specific indicators. The WHO/INRUD core drug use indicators were used to assess the patterns of drug use in comparison to the result gotten. Results: The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.76, the Percentage of drugs prescribed by generic names was 78.02%, the Percentage of antibiotics prescribed was 33.33%, and the Percentage of injections prescribed was 1.67%. Average consulting time in minutes was 17.5 minutes, the average dispensing time in seconds was 92.1 seconds, the Percentage of drugs actually dispensed was 76.97%, Percentage of adequately labeled was 100%, and the percentage of patients’ knowledge of correct dosage was 90%. The facility did not have an Essential Drug List but had all (100%) the key drugs listed by the WHO drug list. Conclusion: All of the prescribing indicators deviated from the WHO/INRUD recommended optimal values. Patient-care and facility-specific indicators deviated from the optimal values except that of the average consultation time, average dispensing time, percentage of drugs adequately labeled, and 100% availability of key drugs. Although a few of the WHO benchmark for rational drug use were met, the outcomes were not satisfactory and required interventions to improve rational drug use in the facility.