The appropriateness of ceftriaxone utilization in government hospitals of Eastern Ethiopia: A retrospective evaluation of clinical practice.

INTRODUCTION

Drug use evaluation is a method of obtaining information to identify problems related to drug use and if properly developed, a means of correcting the problems. Ceftriaxone is among the most commonly utilized cephalosporins. Owing to a broad spectrum of activity and being used empirically, ceftriaxone has been used inappropriately posing a risk for development of antimicrobial resistance. This study is, therefore, designed to evaluate the appropriateness of ceftriaxone utilization in government hospitals in Harar town.

METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in four government hospitals of Harar town by reviewing the medical records of 271 patients who received ceftriaxone from 1 January to 31 December 2016. Systematic random sampling was utilized to capture the medical records. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22.

RESULTS

From the 271 medical records reviewed majority of patients were from surgical ward ( = 85, 31.4%) followed by gynecology and obstetrics ward ( = 67, 24.7%). Demographically, the majority of the patients were female ( = 142, 52.4%). Patients in the age group of 20-29 years were dominant ( = 98, 36.2%). A total of 71 drugs were co-administered with ceftriaxone, the most common being metronidazole followed by tramadol. Among the co-administered drugs, unfractionated heparin ( = 6), warfarin ( = 5), and enoxaparin ( = 1) were found to have a moderate drug interaction with ceftriaxone. Ceftriaxone was commonly used for post-operative prophylaxis ( = 80, 27.5%) followed by for the management of pneumonia ( = 62, 21.3%). The result of ceftriaxone use evaluation showed that majority ( = 190, 70.1%) were found to be inappropriate. The inappropriate utilization was primarily due to wrong indication (indications for which ceftriaxone was not the primary option) ( = 114, 60.0%) followed by wrong duration ( = 54, 28.4%).

CONCLUSION

Ceftriaxone was used inappropriately in more than two-thirds of the patients, with wrong indication and wrong duration contributing the majority. Inappropriate use of antibiotics may potentially lead to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant microorganisms and also ultimately exposes the patient to treatment failure, prolonged hospital stay, and higher cost of therapy.