Drug Prescription Pattern in a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Purpose: To evaluate the prescribing pattern of clinicians in the general outpatient unit of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano (AKTH),.
Methods: This was a descriptive retrospective study conducted using 500 prescriptions made at the general outpatient unit of AKTH between April and July 2009.
Results: A total of 497 prescriptions were successfully analyzed. The average number of drugs per encounter in the facility was 3.04. Generic prescribing was low at 42.7 % while antibiotic prescription was high at 34.4 %. Injections were prescribed in 4 % of encounters while 36.2, 19.1, 25.8 and 1 % of encounters had analgesics, antimalarials, antihypertensives and anxiolytics prescribed, respectively. Vitamins were prescribed in 9.7 % of encounters.
Conclusion: Polypharmacy, low rate of generic prescriptions and overuse of antibiotics still remain a problem in health care facilities in Nigeria.. This calls for sustained interventional strategies and periodic audit at all levels of health care to avoid the negative consequences of inappropriate prescriptions.

Keywords
Prescribing pattern, Generic drugs, Tertiary hospital, Essential drugs, Nigeria