A Retrospective Analysis of Prescribing Practice Based on WHO Prescribing Indicators at Four Selected Hospitals of West Ethiopia: Policy Implication

A descriptive cross-sectional survey to determine prescribing practice of clinicians at four public hospitals in West Ethiopia was carried out. The study involved retrospective review of 2024 prescriptions received at the hospitals' outpatient pharmacies during the period between January and September 2013. The mean number of drugs per prescription was 2.1±0.5. The prevalence of generic, antibiotics and injections prescribing were 79.2%, 54.7% and 28.3%, respectively. Drugs prescribed from Ethiopian essential drug list/formulary constituted 83.0%, which is far less than the ideal limit. Further, all the prescribing indicators studied were out of the ranges recommended by World Health Organization implying that there is deep rooted irrational prescribing practice in public hospitals in Ethiopia. Thus, urgent and well organized interventions should be implemented in the country.Key words: World Health Organization, prescribing indicators, rational drug us

Hypertensive Urgency: The Role of Clinical Pharmacist in Identifying and Managing Drug Therapy Problems: The Case of Ambo Hospital Medical Ward, Ethiopia

Worldwide the role of clinical pharmacists is becoming valuable and expanding in an alarming rate especially in developed countries. However, it is at its infancy stage in low income countries like Ethiopia. Therefore, this particular case is meant to show how much clinical pharmacists are important in the identification and management of drug therapy related problems among hospitalized patients. Accordingly, it was found that clinical pharmacists were able to diagnosis drug related problems during the management of hypertensive urgencies and provide evidence based recommendation to address the problems identified. We recommend the need for more number of clinical pharmacists in the area as well as devotion from the policy makers in upgrading their knowledge