A cross sectional comparison of drug use indicators using WHO methodology in primary level hospitals participating in an Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services program versus non-APTS primary hospitals in Southern Ethiopia

Biruk Wogayehu, Yilma Chisha, Be’emnetu Tekabe, Ayalew Adinew and Mulugeta Asefaw

PLOS ONE, 2019, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-26

Abstract: Introduction: Ethiopian pharmaceutical sector has been facing inaccessibility and unaffordability to key essential medicines due to medicines diversion from the public to private health care facilities, lack of transparency, poor inventory management, and poor dispensing workflow. In an effort to improve the pharmaceutical sector, the government of Ethiopia in 2011 introduced Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services program. This study intended to compare drug use indicators in auditable and non-auditable primary level hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted between January 2018 and December 2018 at primary level hospitals in southern Ethiopia: one with Auditable Pharmaceutical Transactions and Services (APTS) program; another without APTS (Non-APTS).WHO drug use indicators in auditable primary hospitals (n = 10) and similar non-auditable primary hospitals (n = 10) were compared. The prescribing indicators and average cost of medicines were evaluated retrospectively using 1000 prescriptions from each group. Patient care indicators were evaluated prospectively by interviewing and observing 1000 patients from each group. Patient satisfaction was assessed by interviewing 1000 patients from each group. Health care facilities were evaluated through observation. We performed descriptive analysis, t-test, logistic regression, Mann-Whitney U test and linear regression using SPSS version 20.0. Results: The mean consultation time in auditable and non-auditable hospitals was found to be 6.5 minutes and 3.46 minutes, respectively. The average dispensing time in auditable and non-auditable hospitals was found to be 6.6 minutes and 1.02 minutes, respectively.The proportion of drugs actually dispensed was 97.59% in APTS facilities and 76.44% in the non-auditable facilities with the lowest value seen in a non-auditable facility (51.65%). The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.32 (±1.26) and 2.84 (±1.17) in auditable and non-auditable facilities, respectively. The level of patient satisfaction on the convenience of pharmacy location, information on contraindications, availability of drugs and amount of time for counseling was significantly higher in the auditable facilities than the non-auditable facilities (p

Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0223523

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223523

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