A descriptive, retrospective and cross sectional study was conducted to assess the prescribing practices and antibiotic use patterns in the Accident and Emergency department of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. A sample of 4320 prescriptions (systematic random sampling) was drawn out of a total of 1,080,000 prescriptions written during the period 1st January-31st December 2014. The standard World Health Organization/International Network for Rational Use of Drugs prescribing indicators were used to determine the prescribing practices of physicians. Published ideal standards for each of the indicators were used to identify irrational drug use. We also utilized an additional indicator to report the percentage share of antibiotics prescribed. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 2.3 (SD = 1.3) (optimal value 1.6-1.8). Drugs prescribed by generic name occurred 83.1% of the time (optimal value 100%). Antibiotics and injections were prescribed 52.4% (optimal value 20.0-26.8%) and 98.0% (optimal value 13.4-24.1%) of the time respectively. Drugs prescribed from the Essential Drugs List equated to 81.5% (optimal value 100%). Out of 52.4% (n = 2262) prescriptions with antibiotics prescribed, 77.7% (n = 1758) had one antibiotic, 22.1% (n = 499) included two antibiotics, and 0.2% (n = 5) had three antibiotics. Cephalosporins were the most commonly prescribed class of antibiotics (81.5%) followed by penicillins (6.4%) and fluoroquinolones (6.2%). Among the individual antibiotics, ceftriaxone contributed the highest percentage share at 71.8% followed by cefotaxime (5.6%) and metronidazole (4.7%). The most frequently prescribed antibiotic combination was ciprofloxacin with metronidazole (52.1%). Irrational prescribing practices were common. Continuous education and training of physicians is required to ensure rational prescribing at Bahawal Victoria Hospital in the future.
