Evaluation of Prescribing Practice at Secondary Care Units in Annajaf Governorate, Iraq

Rational drug prescribing has been proven fundamental to upgrade the quality of healthcare services. Examining the existing practice is essential to develop a better understanding of the successful encounters and to identify the areas of challenges where a counter plan can be directed. The aim of this work is to evaluate the prescribing practice in Annajaf Governorate, Iraq. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in three government hospitals. 404 discharge prescriptions (23 medications) were collected and analyzed according to the WHO model of rational prescribing. Index of rational medicine prescribing (IRMP) was used as an overall indicator of rational prescribing. The main finding was that the percentage values (% ± standard deviation) of prescribing indicators were substandard for antibiotic prescribing (83.91% ± 0.37 vs. ≤30%), generic prescribing (37.82% ± 2.17 vs. 100%), injection prescribing (63.43% ± 3.64 vs. ≤ 10%), and essential drug list prescribing (67.18% ± 2.09 vs. 100%). Additionally, the number of drugs per prescription was 5.73 ± 2.27 vs. an optimal value of ≤ 2. The IRMP was 1.92 (vs 5 for optimal prescribing).