Assessment of Drug Prescriptions Based on WHO Indicators in Family Physician Program in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran

Rational use of medicine and moving toward a society with appropriate, safe and efficient use of medicine are among the main focuses of the World Health Organization's recommendations. This study aimed to investigate the drug prescription pattern in Iranian rural family physician program in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. In this descriptive analytical study, 14189 drug prescriptions issued in 152 rural health centers under the supervision of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences related to the year 2014 were randomly selected. Indicators including price, number of medicines per prescription, percentage of prescriptions containing at least one injectable drug, antibiotic, corticosteroid and differences according to the physicians’ work experience, type of pharmacy (public or private), patients’ gender and physicians’ gender were assessed. Mean number of medicines per prescription was 3.18 ± 1.28. Mean number of medicines per prescription was 3.15 ± 1.18 for male patients and was 3.2 ± 1.28 for female patients, which their difference was statistically significant (P = 0.01). Frequency of prescriptions containing at least one injectable drug, antibiotic or corticosteroid were 39.5%, 50.8% or 23.7%, respectively. Based on the work experience, physicians with low experience, prescribed more injectable drugs and antibiotics. Mean price of prescription prescribed by female physicians was significantly higher than male physicians (78,472 ± 59,923 IRR (2.24 ± 1.71 US$) vs. 76,205 ± 58,262 IRR (2.18 ± 1.6 US$); P = 0.009). Mean number of medicines per prescription in the operating healthcare units of family physician program under supervision of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences was higher than country goal and international standards. Therefore, it is necessary to initiate special educational programs for physicians, and also to monitor the operating healthcare units of family physician program by designing surveillance programs on prescribing patterns.