ArticleThe Pan African medical journal2018
An evaluation of rational prescribing in hospital outpatient practice in Sierra Leone and assessment of affordability of a prescription as an outcome.
Article in The Pan African medical journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Pattern of Medicine Use in Ethiopia Using the WHO Core Drug Use Indicators.BioMed research international · 2021Pooled it
- Article
- Irrational medicine use and its associated factors in conflict-affected areas in Mali: a cross-sectional study.Global health action · 2025Article
- Adherence to WHO/INRUD prescription indicators in public hospitals: evidence from the Ashanti Region, Ghana.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2025Article
- Antibiotic use and consumption among medical patients of two hospitals in Sierra Leone: a descriptive report.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Antibiotic use and consumption in Freetown, Sierra Leone: A baseline report of prescription stewardship in outpatient clinics of three tertiary hospitals.IJID regions · 2023Article
- Improving the availability of prescription drugs in Lebanon: a critical analysis of alternative policy options.Health research policy and systems · 2022Article
- Adherence to Prescribing Indicators at a District Hospital in Ghana: Do We Match WHO Standards?International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Assessment of drug use in primary health centers in Lagos State, Nigeria.The Pan African medical journal · 2022Observational
- Drug use pattern using WHO core drug use indicators in public health centers of Dessie, North-East Ethiopia.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021Article
- Article
- Prescribing for Patients Seeking Maternal and Child Healthcare in Sierra Leone: A Multiregional Retrospective Cross-Sectional Assessments of Prescribing Pattern Using WHO Drug Use Indicators.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2020Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
introductionMedicines are the most frequently used intervention in healthcare. Rational and cost-effective prescribing is especially important in countries where access to effective medicines may be challenged by affordability issues. This study describes the prescribing patterns of doctors in government hospitals in Freetown, Sierra Leone, considering the scope for rationalising prescribing and reducing cost to the patient.
methodsA descriptive, retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted at four hospitals, using selected World Health Organisation (WHO) indicators applied to 600 prescriptions, after systematic random sampling. The data was analysed using SPSS.16 and the Index of Rational Drug Prescrib-ing (IRDP) calculated. The Spearman's rank coefficient was used to examine possible associations between the number of medicines prescribed as generics and from the National Essential Medicines List (NEML) and cost of the prescription respectively. Affordability was determined from the average number of days of work required to purchase a prescription, based on the minimum wage of the lowest paid government worker in Sierra Leone.
resultsThe mean number of medicines per prescription from the four hospitals was 4.37(range 4.18-4.56) with 57% prescribed generically and 64% from the NEML. An antibiotic and injection were found on 72% and 26% of prescriptions respectively. The overall IRDP was 2.65/5. The aver-age cost per prescription was Le. 29,376.30 ($6.78), equivalent to 43 days of work of the lowest paid government worker.
conclusionIn this study, opportunities were identified for significant rationalisation and improvement in cost-effective prescribing.
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