Prescription of medicine for outpatients of gynaecology obstetric poly at a private hospital in Semarang, Indonesia

Abstract

Background: Rational use of drugs means that patients get the right drug, in the right amount, at the right time, and at the lowest price. The World Health Organizaiton (WHO) issued a guide of the main indicators for the rationale assessment of drug use. These indicators are used as the first line in the assessment of drug use. Prescribing indicators are used to see patterns of drug use and can directly describe inappropriate drug use. This is known as the WHO criteria indicator. Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine drug prescribing for obsteric gynaecology (OB/GYN) poly outpatients at a private hospital in Semarang in accordance with hospital formulary and pharmacy availability. Methods: For this purpose, a descriptive and quantitative survey was conducted. The sample included 251 patients from January 2020. The data were collected retrospectively from the pharmacy's prescriptions. Results: The average number of drugs prescribed per visit was 2.45. Antibiotics were prescribed in 5.2% of encounters and injections in 0.2 %. 5.7% of drugs prescribed were generic, and 2.8% were from the hospital's formulary. The Pharmacy Installation had 79.6% drug availability. Mineral multivitamins (51.5%), hormonal drugs (20.9%), and antibiotics were the most commonly prescribed drugs (5.2%). Conclusion: On the basis of the finding of this study, this OB/GYN Hospital still needs to improve the appropriateness with WHO criteria so that the drugs prescribed were rational and can be available.