Ahmad Alharafsheh, Mohamed Alsheikh, Sheraz Ali, Amani A Baraiki, Ghadah Alharbi, Tahani Alhabshi and Amina Aboutaleb
King Saud Medical Complex, Saudi Arabia
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Arch Clin Microbiol
Background: Little is known about the pattern of antibiotic�s prescribing for hospitalized adult patients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). This study explored the prescribing practices of antibiotics in a large tertiary care setting serving diverse population. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study included 1,666 antibiotic prescriptions prescribed over a period of 3 months (January 2016 � March 2016) in an adult Inpatient Department of King Saud Medical City (KSMC). Data was collected from pharmacy electronic database. World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators were also used. Results: The average number of drugs per encounter was 1.2. Sixty one percent of the prescriptions contained parenteral antibiotics. The percentage of drugs prescribed from essential drug list and by generic name was 100% in each indicator. The most frequently prescribed antibiotics were cefuroxime (19.44%), piperacillin/tazobactam (16.30%) and cefazolin (13.85%). Conclusion: This study gathered baseline data pertinent to the prudent use of antibiotics in KSMC. The diagnosis was not documented in more than one third of the admission episodes. Majority of the antibiotics were broad spectrum. Three prescribing indicators shows deviation from the WHO�s standard values while prescribing from essential drug list and by generic name was not a problem in this setting. There is a need to explore the impact of prescriptions lacked indication on patient�s safety.
Ahmad Alharafsheh is working as Professor at employed at King Saud Medical Complex, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.