Abstract

The international network for rational use of drugs comprises a set of indicators called "drug use indicators" that can be used to assess rational drug use by the patient, health professionals and drug use managements at facility level. These indicators comprise of: Prescribing indicators, patient care indicators and facility indicators. A cross-sectional descriptive study has been conducted to collect the data on patient care and facility indicators, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Out of 10 public hospitals found in western Oromo, 4 were randomly selected. Data of 160 general ambulatory patients were randomly collected between the months of November, 2012 to March, 2013 from each facility (40 patients per facility). Patient care indicators were measured prospectively by recording consultation time and dispensing time. Percentages of drugs actually dispensed and adequately labeled were determined by examining the drug packages/bottles which the patient had actually received. It was noted whether they had been adequately labeled, viz. whether the name of the patient, the generic name of the drug and when the drug should be taken was written on the label (WHO, 1995). Lastly, the patient's knowledge of when and in what quantity each dispensed drug should be taken was evaluated. In this study, the average consultation time was significantly better in these facilities (18.20 ± 4.3 standard deviation (SD) min) as compared to WHO recommendation which is > 10 min. The dispensing time of drugs in this study was also good (6.56 ± 5.43 SD min) as compared to WHO recommendation which is > 3 min.

Key words: Rational drug use, World Health Organization (WHO) indicators, facility indicators, patient care indicators.