Antibiotic use pattern at dental clinic: a cross-sectional, retrospective study

Abstract

Aim: Irrational use of antibiotics leads to the development of antibiotic resistance. Hence, the objective of this study was to assess antibiotic use pattern at Dental Clinic in Nekemte Referral Hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted by reviewing prescription cards of dental patients from February to January, 2016. The sampling frame of the study was the list of prescription cards at the dental clinic during the last one year period (from January 1 to December 31, 2015). Results: Within 386 prescriptions /medical record cards reviewed, a total of 634 medications were prescribed for patients of which 61.04% drugs were antibiotics. Amoxicillin (69.25%) was the most commonly used antibiotics. All drugs were prescribed by generic name. The average number of antibiotics per prescription and the percentage of encounters with an injection prescribed were 1.64% and 0.04%, respectively. The analysis of antibiotic prescriptions showed that a total of 85 prescription errors were detected and the majority of errors were identified to be omission errors. Conclusion: All the antibiotics were prescribed by generic names, but there were a significant number of prescribing errors of antibiotics. Therefore, prescribers should regularly check completeness of prescription and pharmacists should provide continuous drug information on rational use of antibiotics and of course should work in a team sprit with prescribers.