ABSTRACT
Iwan Dwiprahasto- Drugs availability at districs level and the quality of prescribing in primary health care
Background: An excessive use of drugs in primary health care is commonly unavoidable. This in part due to the limited knowledge of prescribers who are mostly paramedics and whose pharmacotherapeutic knowldges are limited. More than 90% patients with acute respiratory infection (ARI) and diarrhea received antibiotics and similar percentage of patients with muscle ache received injection unecessarily. Objective: To improve the availability of drugs at district level and to improve the quality of prescribing at primary health centers (PHCs).
Design: Quasi experimental with pre and post test analysis and using a control group for comparison. An interactive, problem-based training intervention was carried out within 2 days period involving all PHCs and district\u27s warehouses in three provinces, i.e West Kalimantan, West Sumater, and West Nusa Tenggara. Monitoring, supervision and feedback were carried out regularly upon completion of the intervention. This study involves 18 districts and 118 PHCs.
Results: 11.995 prescriptions were collected at baseline, 6 months and 1 year after intervention. An average number of drugs per prescription decreased significantly 1 year after intervention (
