Assessment of physician's prescribing practices at Ministry of Health Hospitals in Jeddah City - Saudi Arabia

Background: To assess the rationale and practices of drug prescribing of physicians working in a sample of Ministry of Health (MOH) General Hospitals in Jeddah City. A retrospective study was conducted using the International Network of Rational use of Drugs (INRUD) criteria to assess prescriptions. The study was carried in the Outpatient Department Clinics at King Fahd and King Abdulaziz Hospitals at Jeddah City. Methods: A sample of 1240 prescriptions was selected retrospectively using systematic random sampling from different specialities. The selected prescriptions were audited by using checklist which contained the core indicators of prescribing practices. Results: Average number of drugs per prescription was 3.0 +/- 1.4 drugs. One third of prescriptions contained more than 3 drugs. The rate of antibiotics and injections prescriptions were 16.0% and 2.0%, respectively. Less than a quarter of patients ended their consultation without prescriptions. The rate of drugs written in generic name was 19.5%. Generally, more than 94% of the prescriptions were rated as good. Conclusion: The study confirmed presence of aspects of irrational use of drugs at studied facilities. Practical recommendations regarding this were stressed.