Chalachew Teshale, Jemal Hussein, Seid Mussa
Introduction: Ineffective pharmaceutical service adversely affects the health of an individual and final the community at large. It is also the major causes of morbidity and mortality.
Methods: A comparative retrospective and prospective facility based cross-sectional study were conducted between April and November, 2012 at randomly selected 10 health facilities found in Jimma zone. Core, complementary, and modified drug and patient care indicators developed by World health organization (WHO) covering all aspects of pharmaceutical services were used to assess the existing situation. Patient records review, observation of patient-personnel encounters and patient interviews were used to collect the data.
Results: In this study, the average number of drugs per prescription was 2.3.Most of the prescription (72.8%) was found to be legible. The percentage of prescription containing injections and antibiotics are found to be 12.8% and 34.8%, respectively. Only 5.6% of the patient had knowledge about the potential side effects of their medications. None of the patients had adequate knowledge about their medications. Only 92.9% of the prescribed drugs are dispensed to the patients. The average dispensing time for the patients is found to be 6.74 seconds. Most of the patients with diarrhea (90.8%) are managed by antibiotics despite of the local guideline recommendations. In general, irrational drug use is common practice in Jimma Zone
