Pediatric drug prescribing quality indicators

Abstract

Background: Drug prescribing indicators represent selected data providing a partial insight into physicians’ work in the field of drug prescribing. They are based on the data on drug prescriptions issued. The Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (HIISI, in cooperation with the representa-tives of paediatric specialty, prepared an array of drug prescription quality indicators for paedia-trics. Indicators for the 5-year period between 2014 and 2018 were analysed. Methods: The retrospective observational study analysed the data on the drugs prescribed to children aged up to 19 years. The data were obtained from the Primary Care Prescriptions Database at the HIIS and at the National Institute of Public Health. The analysis included data on the number of primary care prescriptions issued on green and white prescription forms. The consumption of medications is shown according to the anatomical therapeutic chemical (ATC) classification in DDD. Medication subgroups within the ATC groups were also reviewed. The data are shown in tabular form. Results: The number of prescriptions issued for children in 2014–2018 in Slovenia is lower by 8 %, while the number of DDD prescribed in the same period was higher by 4 %. The highest percentage of persons receiving at least one prescription for systemic treatment of bacterial in-fections was observed in the Murska Sobota HIIS regional unit, i.e. 35 %, followed by regional units Krško with 34.1 %, Ravne with 33.2 % and Novo mesto with 32 %. The fewest persons received medications in the Nova Gorica regional unit. The KK1p indicator, which reflects the value of a defined daily dose (DDD) unit or the average price per unit of all medications prescribed in Slovenia, shows a downward trend for Slovenia as well as major differences between the HIIS regional units. Compared to the baseline year, there was a 16 % reduction in the proportion of children having received a prescription for an antibiotic. The reduction observed for the Nova Gorica regional unit amounted to 33 %. Conclusion: The indicators presented show an improved quality of drug prescription for chil-dren, notably regarding systemic antibiotics. We believe the indicators are useful both for individual physicians and for decision-making at national level. They also contribute to further control of antimicrobial use in children, which is their main purpose.