Patterns of drug prescribing in a hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

To determine the pattern of drug prescription by consultants in a private hospital in Dubai, UnitedArab Emirates, 1190 prescriptions were collected from the hospital’s pharmacy over 30 days. In total,2659 drugs were prescribed. The mean number of drugs per encounter was 2.2. Only 4.4% of alldrugs prescribed were generic. Polypharmacy was observed in only 7.5% of all encounters.Information about the prescribing physician and the patient was invariably deficient. Name of patient,age, and gender were absent in 2.9%, 9.7%, and 12% of prescriptions, respectively. In addition, noneof the prescriptions mentioned address, diagnosis, or allergy of the patient. Name of physician,signature, speciality and license or registration number were omitted in 12.2%, 10.3%, 20.3%, and54.9% of prescriptions. The most commonly prescribed therapeutic classes of drugs (and principaldrug in each class) were as follows: 23.4% non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs, Diclofenacsodium being 51.6%), 21.4% antibiotics (amoxicillin-clavulanate 13.5%), and 11.5% gastrointestinaldrugs (GI, Hyoscine-N-butylbromide 28.1%). Other therapeutic classes included endocrine drugs(6.1%), vitamin supplements (5.9%), nasal decongestants (4%), antihistaminics (3.8%) andcardiovascular drugs (2.6%). Antibiotic injections accounted for 7.4% of all antibiotics prescribed,which was equivalent to 1.6% of all prescriptions. Other agents prescribed in small proportions ofencounters collectively amounted to 21.3%. This study reveals the prescription trends, and indicatespossible areas of improvement in prescription practice.

Keywords

• Patterns
• prescribing
• hospital
• analysis