ASSESSMENT ON RATIONAL USE OF NONSTEROID ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS AMONG COHEST IJERO EKITI STUDENTS

ASSESSMENT ON RATIONAL USE OF NONSTEROID ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS AMONG COHEST IJERO EKITI STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

The objective was to assess rational drug use in public tertiary hospitals in Edo State.  A descriptive cross sectional study was carried out using quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. The study population comprised students of  Ijero-Ekiti College of Health Sciences and  Technology. Samples were selected by proportionate allocation among the health facility and the individual patient selected by systematic sampling method to achieve 644 patients studied. A total population of 182 prescribers and dispensers in the General Outpatient Department (GOPD) of the health facility were studied. The respondents were interviewed with questionnaires on their drug use practices. In terms of antibiotics, injections, and the essential medicine list, the overall prescription pattern was encouraging, however generic prescribing was somewhat bad, and there was a propensity to prescribe more prescriptions than were clinically indicated. There is still much space for improvement, particularly in terms of the application of established treatment recommendations. Despite a poor drug dispensing environment and a paucity of some dispensing tools, drug supply and labelling were satisfactory. Pharmacists’ patient counselling still leaves a lot to be desired. As a result, patients’ attitudes about drug usage can best be described as negative. The patient’s educational standing, the accessibility of the health facility personnel/their attitude toward the patient, and the expense of acquiring the prescription drugs all had a role in poor drug compliance. Prescribers and dispensers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practises should be influenced through an intervention programme incorporating concerted continuing education. This would aid in the maintenance of good habits and the correction of bad habits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 BACKGROUND

Drugs are one of the most important and cost-effective aspects of health care, and they are frequently a determining factor in health-care reform success.  Drugs are beneficial in three ways: they help people feel better, they help people feel better, and they help people feel better. The most commonly given medications for pain, fever, and inflammation are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Rational use of drugs involve “appropriate treatment of patient according to their clinical needs, in doses that match their own unique requirements, for an adequate duration of time, and at the lowest cost to them and their community,”. [6] To combat irrational drug use, activities such as drug prescribing and dispensing, as well as patient behaviour, should be closely monitored in terms of the types, amounts, and causes for illogical medication use. [7]

Patients’ drug use and therapy outcomes, on the other hand, are determined by the quality, amount of commitment, and professionalism demonstrated by health care practitioners. Prescribers should strive to follow a regular method of prescribing in compliance with standard treatment recommendations and the health care institution’s formulary to guarantee rational prescribing and drug use.

Drug procurement and supply must be done in a professional and efficient manner for rational drug dispensing to be possible. The correct pharmaceuticals must be used for the right indications in the right dose and dosage form for the right duration, according to the rules of rational drug use. Rational drug usage, as an important component of a national drug policy, aims to prevent the problems of under or over prescription, improper prescribing, and the use of new, expensive pharmaceuticals when there are equally effective, well-tested, safe, and less priced alternatives.

To promote judicious use of NSAIDs, it is critical to identify and quantify the problem. This can be accomplished by focusing drug utilisation studies on the use of specific drugs. The World Health Organization’s prescribing indicators are one of the most extensively used techniques for identifying general prescribing practises in health-care facilities. [8]

 

     1.1       PROBLEM STATEMENT

Medicine misuse is a big issue all around the world. According to the WHO, more than half of all drugs are wrongly prescribed, delivered, or sold, and half of all patients do not take them correctly. Medicine misuse, overuse, or underuse wastes valuable resources and puts people’s health at risk. Overuse of injections when oral formulations would be more appropriate; failure to prescribe in accordance with clinical guidelines; inappropriate self-medication, often of prescription-only medicines; non-adherence to dosing regimens are all examples of irrational use of medicines.

Irrational drug use, especially when anti-infective medications are involved, can lead to drug resistance and tolerance, as well as resource waste. Misuse of antibiotics, for example, is contributing to the global rise in antimicrobial resistance that is now being seen for the majority of infections. Antimicrobial resistance has a lot of costs attached to it.

1.3   STUDY OBJECTIVES       

To assess  Rational use of nonsteroid anti inflammatory drugs among Among Cohest Ijero Ekiti students. Other Specific Objectives include:

• To assess the prescription pattern of nonsteroid anti inflammatory drugs among Cohest Ijero -Ekiti Students
• To ascertain the drug dispensing practices of nonsteroid anti inflammatory drugs among Cohest Ijero-Ekiti Students
• To determine outpatients’ awareness and attitude towards rational use of nonsteroid anti inflammatory drugs and the factors influencing such attitude.

 

1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE  STUDY

The concepts of rational medication usage will be highlighted in this study, as well as the extent to which they are being implemented in our public tertiary hospitals. Unless action is taken, irrational drug use and its negative consequences are likely to increase. Such actions will be based on the findings of studies like these. Evidence reveals that in developing and transitioning economies, the private sector’s usage of medications is often much worse than the public sector’s. As a result, it is critical to analyse how well medications are used in the public sector, so that we can have a current picture of how good this so-called “better” sector is at rational drug usage.

1.5  STUDY LIMITATIONS

One limitation was the researchers’ inability to examine a variety of clinical conditions for which drugs were prescribed in order to justify conclusions such as polypharmacy, overuse of antibiotics, overuse of injections, prescriptions following standard treatment guidelines, and so on. As a result, the percentage of drug costs spent on antibiotics and injections could not be calculated. The validity of the data was predicated on the accuracy of the information provided, which was restricted by the patient’s real understanding of the subject area.

ASSESSMENT ON RATIONAL USE OF NONSTEROID ANTI INFLAMMATORY DRUGS AMONG COHEST IJERO EKITI STUDENTS

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