Pharmacy Department, Bekwai Municipal Hospital, Bekwai Ashanti, Ghana.
Ashanti Regional Health Directorate, Kumasi, Ghana.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 31;19(10):e0308406. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308406. eCollection 2024.
Prescribers must possess extensive knowledge and maintain a positive attitude towards the rational use of medicines to achieve desirable treatment outcomes and effectively prevent treatment failures, increased costs, drug toxicities, and interactions. The objective of this study was to evaluate prescribers' understanding and perception concerning the rational use of medicines in public hospitals. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the factors that influence rational prescribing practices.
A structured data instrument was developed to collect demographic data and evaluate participants' knowledge and perception of rational medicine use, in line with the study objectives. Chi-squared statistics and Fisher's exact test were utilized to identify factors associated with good knowledge and perception among participants. Logistic regression was then employed to assess the strength of the associations, with odd ratios reported at a significant level of 0.05.
Out of 192 participants, 85.4% held a positive view of rational medicine use, stressing patient safety and recognizing risks like antimicrobial resistance and polypharmacy. Perception was influenced by factors such as prescriber profession, access to references, and drug bulletin updates. Additionally, 65.6% demonstrated good knowledge of rational medicine use, which was notably influenced by factors like using standard prescribing guidelines, having a functional Drug and Therapeutics Committee, prescriber profession, and the frequency of drug bulletin updates.
The study emphasizes the critical need to address knowledge gaps among healthcare professionals, especially nurses and other prescribers, to ensure the safe and effective use of medications. It highlights the positive influence of utilizing preferred prescribing references and the existence of functional Drug and Therapeutics Committees in hospitals on knowledge levels. However, the unexpected findings regarding the limited impact of frequent updates of drug bulletins require further investigation.
为了实现理想的治疗效果，有效预防治疗失败、增加成本、药物毒性和相互作用，医生必须具备广泛的知识并对合理用药持积极态度。本研究旨在评估公立医院医生对合理用药的理解和看法，并确定影响合理处方实践的因素。
为了实现研究目的，制定了一个结构化数据工具，以收集人口统计学数据，并评估参与者对合理用药的知识和看法。采用卡方检验和 Fisher 确切检验来识别与参与者良好知识和看法相关的因素。然后，采用逻辑回归评估关联的强度，以 0.05 的显著性水平报告优势比。
在 192 名参与者中，85.4%对合理用药持积极看法，强调患者安全，并认识到抗菌药物耐药性和多种药物治疗等风险。看法受到医生职业、参考资料的获取以及药物公告更新等因素的影响。此外，65.6%的参与者表现出对合理用药的良好知识，这主要受到使用标准处方指南、拥有功能健全的药物和治疗委员会、医生职业以及药物公告更新频率等因素的影响。
本研究强调了满足医疗保健专业人员（特别是护士和其他医生）知识差距的迫切需要，以确保安全有效地使用药物。它突出了利用首选处方参考和医院功能健全的药物和治疗委员会对知识水平的积极影响。然而，关于药物公告频繁更新对知识水平影响有限的意外发现需要进一步调查。
