Prescription Pattern of Antibiotics among Physicians in a Secondary Health Facility in Abuja, Nigeria

Aim: This study was aimed at assessing the prescription pattern of antibiotics by physicians in Federal Staff Clinic, Abuja: A secondary health care facility in Nigeria.
Study Design: It was a descriptive cross sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: Federal Staff Clinic, Abuja, Nigeria between August 2012 and February 2013.
Methodology: A total number of 1022 prescription sheets containing 1648 prescribed antibiotics were obtained retrospectively and examined. Results were analysed using SPSS version 15 and presented in form of descriptive statistics.
Results: Results showed that Amoxicillin was the most prescribed antibiotic followed by Metronidazole (31.79% and 27.37% respectively). The mean number of antibiotics prescribed per prescription was 1.61± 0.55. The drug per prescription ranged from 1 to 9 with a mean of 3.04± 1.51. About Ninety five percent of the antibiotics were prescribed correctly in terms of frequency and duration of use. Only 21.2% of the antibiotic was prescribed in generic name. Almost all of the antibiotics were prescribed in oral form (98.3%) and were available for dispensing at the pharmacy as at the time of prescription (97.59%). All antibiotics prescribed were found in the Essential Drug List.
Conclusion: Antibiotic usage in this health facility was largely in accordance with National Drug policy which promotes rationale use of drugs. However, majority of antibiotics were not prescribed in generic form, an area where the physicians need to be educated on and monitored further.