Drug prescribing in paediatric in-patients at Harare and Parirenyatwa Central Hospitals.

Two-hundred-and-fifty records were examined at Harare and 250 at Parirenyatwa Central Hospitals over a six-month period to investigate drug prescribing patterns for paediatric in-patients. The majority of the patients were between one to three years and weight 6 to 7.9 kg. A total of 1,725 prescriptions were received by these patients with an average of 3.45 (range = 0-18 drugs) per patient. The most frequently used pharmacological groups at both hospitals were anti-infectives (51 pc), intravenous fluids and supplements (22 pc) and analgesics (10.6 pc). Benzylpenicillin accounted for 14.6 pc at Harare and 12.9 pc at Parirenyatwa hospital of the anti-infectives respectively. Infections (49 pc) and gastro-enteritis (11.5 pc) were the main diagnoses in all age groups at both hospitals. Respiratory tract infections accounted for 13.5 pc at Harare and 15.2 pc at Parirenyatwa hospital respectively. There was a rational correlation between prevalent diagnosis and drugs used.