Volume 28, Issue 146, April 2024

Prescription pattern of antibiotics and infection control among outpatients presented at the different community pharmacies in Lahore, Pakistan

Muhammad Zahid Iqbal^1♦, Seerat Shahzad¹, Shaikh Muhammad Usama Latif², Adnan Mubarik², Neha Fatima², Sadia Arshad², Ramsha Aamir², Muhammad Arslan Shoukat³, Muhammad Ahmad Ilyas², Fateh Sher⁴

¹Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
²Research Student, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
³King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan
⁴Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

^♦Corresponding author
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lahore University of Biological & Applied Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Background: Infection is a public health issue all over the world. There are specific demographics that influence infection rates, and prescription patterns vary between countries. Objective: This study aimed to determine the prescription pattern of physicians working in Lahore city and the factors affecting infection cure rate. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a different community pharmacy in Lahore city, and the prescriptions belonging to different physicians were evaluated. An infection control rate was also checked in a patient by a validated data collection form. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) ver. 25.0 was used to analyze the data. Results: There was a statistically significant association (p<0.001) observed between infection control and patients' gender. Post-hoc pairwise comparison of the chi-square test reveals that culture and sensitivity test is having a positive effect on an infection cure rate in patients visiting different community pharmacies in Lahore city where the P value was 0.008 and effect size was determined to be 0.187, indicating a weak positive association in a culture sensitivity test and infection rate cure. In the current study, it was found that unmarried patients (75.5%) had better infection control compared to married patients (51.1%). Conclusion: In conclusion, the study participants showed that better control of infection could be achieved by conducting timely culture sensitivity tests, avoiding smoking in patients, and making timely and proper diagnoses of diseases.

Keywords: Infection control, prescription pattern, demographic variables, adherence of patients, antibiotics, community pharmacies

Medical Science, 2024, 28, e29ms3327

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v28i146.e29ms3327

Published: 16 April 2024