ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY INDICATORS OF DRUG PRESCRIBING IN A HEALTH CENTER IN VITÓRIA DA CONQUISTA, STATE OF BAHIA, BRAZIL

Abstract

Appropriate prescription is one of the most important factors for the proper use of drugs and its quality can be assessed by indicators. They are qualitative and quantitative measurements which assess medication performance, detect problems and lead to the solution. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of prescription in a health center at Vitória da Conquista, State of Bahia. In order to calculate the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators, 1064 copies of prescriptions were collected. The prescribed drugs were classified according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System, also by WHO. At the health center studied, an average of 2.2 drugs was prescribed per prescription. From the total of prescribed drugs, 98.7% were done by their generic names. Antibiotics were prescribed in 40.3% of the prescriptions, whereas injectables in 5.4% of the medical prescriptions. In relation to the local list of drugs, 50.6% of the drugs prescribed are part of the list. These results demonstrate that prescribing at the health center evaluated does not comply with the proposed quality parameters, indicating that some prescribing habits should be modified in order to improve prescribing quality.