Core Prescribing Indicators and the Most Commonly Prescribed Medicines in a Tertiary Health Care Setting in a Developing Country

Table 2

In-ward, outpatient clinic, and combined prescribing indicators in the five disciplines.

Prescribing indicator (WHO recommended standard)	Mean ± SD/Number (%)
	Clinical Medicine	Gynaecology and Obstetrics	Paediatrics	Psychiatry	Surgery	All disciplines
Average medicines per encounter (1.6–1.8)
In-ward	7.8 ± 4.2 (8.5; 1–22)^∗	4.3 ± 2.9 (4; 1–15)^∗†‡	3.1 ± 2.6 (3; 1–18)^∗†‡	6.2 ± 1.6 (4; 1–13)^†	7.0 ± 4.0 (6.5; 1–19)^‡	5.7 ± 4 (5; 1–22)
Outpatient clinic	7.8 ± 2.7 (7.5; 1–14)^∗†\	3.2 ± 1.4 (4; 1–7)^∗	2.6 ± 1.3 (2; 1–8)^∗	2.7 ± 1.6 (2; 1–7)^†	2.0 ± 1.0 (2; 1–6)^∗	3.8 ± 2.8 (3; 1–14)
Both	7.8 ± 3.8 (7; 1–22)^∗†‡	3.7 ± 2.4 (3; 1–15)^∗	2.8 ± 1.9 (2; 1–18)^†‡	4.4 ± 2.9 (3; 1–13)^†	4.5 ± 3.8 (3; 1–19)^‡	4.8 ± 3.6 (4; 1–22)
Encounters with an antibiotic (%) (20–26.8%)
In-ward	85 (53.1)^∗†	50 (31.2)^∗	25 (21.2)^†‡	15 (37.5)^‡	106 (66.2)^∗‡	281 (44.0)
Outpatient clinic	15 (9.4)	18 (11.2)	15 (9.4)	0	19 (11.9)	67 (9.8)
Both	100 (31.2)^∗‡	68 (21.2)^∗	40 (14.4)^∗	15 (18.8)^‡	125 (39.1)^∗‡	348 (26.4)
Encounters with an injection (%) (13.4–24.1%)
In-ward	116 (72.5)^∗†	66 (41.2)^∗‡	62 (52.5)^†#	11 (27.5)^†#	117 (73.1)^‡#	372 (58.3)
Outpatient clinic	23 (14.4)^∗†	1 (0.6)^∗	0	1 (2.5)^†	0	25 (3.7)
Both	139 (43.4)^∗†‡	67 (20.9)^∗‡#	62 (22.3)^†¥	12 (15.0)	117 (36.6)^#¥	397 (30.1)
Medicines prescribed in generic name (%) (100%)
In-ward	1077 (86.4)^∗†‡	625 (91.5)^∗	328 (89.9)	230 (93.1)^†	1018 (90.8)^‡	3278 (89.5)
Outpatient clinic	1152 (92.1)^∗†‡	492 (96.3)^∗	319 (75.8)^†‡	108 (99.1)^†	310 (95.4%)^‡	2381 (91.0)
Both	2229 (89.2)^∗†‡	1117 (93.6)^∗	647 (82.3)^†	338 (94.9)^†	1328 (91.8)^†	5659 (90.1)
Medicines prescribed from EML (%) (100%)
In-ward	1146 (91.9)^∗†	649 (95.0)^∗	316 (86.6)^∗†	182 (73.7)^∗†	1084 (96.7)^†	3377 (92.2)
Outpatient clinic	1111 (88.8)^∗†	487 (95.3)^∗†	357 (84.8)^∗	84 (77.1)^∗†	308 (94.8)^†	2347 (89.7)
Both	2257 (90.4)^∗†	1136 (95.1)^∗	673 (85.6)^∗†	266 (72.9)^∗†	1392 (96.3)^†	5724 (91.1)

^∗†‡Values in a single row with the same symbol are significantly different from one another; EML, essential medicines list; SD, standard deviation.