Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

High Levels of Outpatient Antibiotic Prescription at a District Hospital in Ghana (2021): Results of a Cross Sectional Study

Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah
* ORCID logo ,
Sharath Burugina Nagaraja
ORCID logo ,
Nana Kwame Ayisi-Boateng
ORCID logo ,
Divya Nair
,
Karlos Muradyan
ORCID logo ,
Phanuel Seli Asense
,
Osei Kwaku Wusu-Ansah
,
Robert Fraser Terry
ORCID logo ,
Mohammed Khogali
,
Kwame Ohene Buabeng
Version 1 : Received: 22 July 2022 / Approved: 26 July 2022 / Online: 26 July 2022 (07:47:52 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Amponsah, O.K.O.; Nagaraja, S.B.; Ayisi-Boateng, N.K.; Nair, D.; Muradyan, K.; Asense, P.S.; Wusu-Ansah, O.K.; Terry, R.F.; Khogali, M.; Buabeng, K.O. High Levels of Outpatient Antibiotic Prescription at a District Hospital in Ghana: Results of a Cross Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10286. Amponsah, O.K.O.; Nagaraja, S.B.; Ayisi-Boateng, N.K.; Nair, D.; Muradyan, K.; Asense, P.S.; Wusu-Ansah, O.K.; Terry, R.F.; Khogali, M.; Buabeng, K.O. High Levels of Outpatient Antibiotic Prescription at a District Hospital in Ghana: Results of a Cross Sectional Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 10286.

Abstract

Background: Monitoring of antibiotic prescription practices in hospitals is essential to assess and facilitate appropriate use. This is relevant to halt the progression of antimicrobial resistance. Methods: Assessment of antibiotic prescribing patterns and completeness of antibiotic prescriptions among out-patients in 2021 was conducted at the University Hospital of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in the Ashanti region of Ghana. We reviewed electronic medical records (EMR) of 49,660 patients who had 110,280 encounters in the year. Results: The patient encounters yielded 350,149 prescriptions. Every month, 33-36% of patient encounters resulted in antibiotic prescription, higher than the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended optimum of 27%. Almost half of the antibiotics prescribed belonged to WHO’s Watch group. Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (50%), azithromycin (29%), ciprofloxacin (28%), metronidazole (21%), and cefuroxime (20%) were the most prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotic prescribing parameters (indication, name of drug, duration, dose, route and frequency) were documented in almost all prescriptions. Conclusions: Extending antimicrobial stewardship to the out-patient settings by developing standard treatment guidelines, an out-patient specific drug formulary and antibiograms can promote rational antibiotic use at the hospital. The EMR system of the hospital is a valuable tool for monitoring prescriptions that can be leveraged for future audits.

Keywords

Antibiotic prescription; Outpatients; AWaRe classification; Ghana; SORT IT; Antimicrobial stewardship; Electronic Medical Records; Operational research; Antimicrobial resistance

Subject

Medicine and Pharmacology, Medicine and Pharmacology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Download PDF

Comments (0)

We encourage comments and feedback from a broad range of readers. See criteria for comments and our Diversity statement.

Leave a public comment
Send a private comment to the author(s)
* All users must log in before leaving a comment
Views 0
Downloads 0
Comments 0
Metrics 0
Get PDF Cite Share 0
Bookmark BibSonomy Mendeley Reddit Delicious
×
Alerts
Notify me about updates to this article or when a peer-reviewed version is published.
We use cookies on our website to ensure you get the best experience.
Read more about our cookies here.