TY - JOUR T1 - Antibiotic Prescription Pattern and Cost at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria AU - , T.M. Akande AU - , M. Ologe AU - , G.F. Medubi JO - International Journal of Tropical Medicine VL - 4 IS - 2 SP - 50 EP - 54 PY - 2009 DA - 2001/08/19 SN - 1816-3319 DO - ijtmed.2009.50.54 UR - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=ijtmed.2009.50.54 KW - Antibiotic KW -prescription pattern KW -cost KW -Teaching Hospital KW -Nigeria AB - Appropriate antibiotic prescription is the first step for optimum antibiotic use and has the potential impact of reducing resistant micro-organisms generated by excessive use and to also save cost in health care. This study examines the antibiotic prescription pattern and the related cost in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria, a descriptive cross-sectional survey. Data were collected from prescription sheets of patients that reported to the Pharmacy Department of the Teaching Hospital. Six hundred and thirty prescription sheets were selected by systematic random sampling. Data was analyzed with EPI-info software. Only 14.1% had >4 drugs prescribed, 83.5% of the prescriptions had at least one antibiotics prescribed and more than a third (35.9%) of antibiotics prescribed were in the penicillins group. Mean number of drugs prescribed is 2.987±1.470 compared with the mean number of antibiotics of 1.015±0.670 and the mean duration of prescribed antibiotics is 10.59±13.15 days. Mean cost of drugs on a prescription sheet is 1108.69±976.73 (US$9.25), while the mean cost of antibiotics is 802.83±734.81 (US$6.72). Averagely Antibiotics make up 72.7% of total cost of drug in a prescription sheet. Significantly higher mean cost of drugs prescribed for out-patients than in-patients (p<0.001) but not significantly different for antibiotics. Antibiotics prescription is high in developing countries and calls for concern. A lot of money can be saved if policies are formulated and promoted on rational antibiotics prescription in developing countries like Nigeria. ER -