A Survey of Antibiotic Usage at Holy Trinity Medical Centre
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Date
January, 2010
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Abstract
Exposure to antibiotics is the principal risk factor in the emergence and selection of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The casual relationship between the emergence of antibiotic resistance and the widespread use of antibiotics cannot be disputed. The emergence of antibiotic resistance is primarily due to excessive and often unnecessary use of antibiotics in humans and animals. Antibiotic prescribing patterns was studied in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana at the Holy Trinity Medical Centre which is a private health facility. Clinical records of 140 adult patients prescribed antibiotics over a 7day period at the general Out-Patient department were studied. Respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections accounted for a greater percentage of antibiotic prescriptions. The average number of antibiotics prescribed in the above two sconditions was 1.09(SD=0.33) and 1.22(SD=o.42) respectively. The commonest antibiotics prescribed were penicillins (55.4%), macrolides (29.3%), cephalsoporins (10.8%), quinolones (2.7%), aminoglycosides (1.4%) and clindamycin (1.4%). Other antibiotics included tetracyclnes, chloramphenicol, nitrofurantoin and co-trimoxazole. In the management of the various disease conditions standard treatment guidelines in most cases were not being followed and many more interventions should have been considered than what was recorded.
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A Thesis submitted to the Department of Clinical and Social Pharmacy,
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science