Page 86 - 78_04

M.
MALIK
&
col

coded
and
analyzed
using
statistical
software
SPSS
version
16.
Descriptive

statistics
(frequencies
and
percentages)
were
used
to
describe
trends
in
the

current
prescribing
practices.
Kruskal-­-Wallis
test
(p
=
0.05)
was
used
to
compare

the
adherence
of
prescribers
with
standard
malaria
regimen
having
different

designations
and
level
of
experiences.
While
Mann
Whitney
test
(p
=
0.05)
was

used
to
compare
the
adherence
of
prescribers
with
standard
treatment
regimen

for
malaria
practicing
in
public
and
private
healthcare
facilities
in
the
two
cities.

3.
RESULTS

A
total
of
600
malaria
cases
were
collected
and
analyzed.
Out
of
600

encounters,
50
%
(n=300)
were
collected
from
public
and
50
%
(n=300)
were

from
private
tertiary
healthcare
facilities.

The
mean
age
of
the
malaria
patients
in
the
encounters
was
35.00
years

(±
14.04),
ranging
from
20
to
60
years
while
68.3%
(n=410)
of
the
patients
were

males
and
remaining
31.7%
(n=190)
were
females.

Of
the
total
prescriptions,
34.3
%
(n=
206)
were
prescribed
by
house

officers
(fresh
MBBS
graduate
acquiring
training
in
medical
fertinity),
57.7
%
(n
=

346)
were
by
medical
officers
(Medical
graduate
with
at
least
experience
of
more

than
one
year)
and
remaining
8
%
(n
=
48)
were
by
specialists
(Medical
graduate

with
expertise
in
a
specific
field
of
medical
fertinity).

It
was
observed
that
20.2
%
(n
=
121)
of
the
prescribers
had
working

experience
of
less
than
one
year,
40.7
%
(n
=
244)
had
working
experience
of
1-­-5

years,
23.7
%
(n
=
142)
had
working
experience
of
6-­-10
years
and
15.5
%
(n
=
93)

had
working
experience
of
more
than
10
years.
Of
the
total
prescribers,
85
%
(n=

510)
were
not
aware
regarding
national
standard
treatment
guidelines
for
malaria,

90
%
(n
=
540)
have
never
seen
them
in
their
health
facilities
for
reference
and

98.3
%
(n
=
590)
had
never
received
any
training
on
standard
treatment
guidelines

for
malaria
(Table
2).

The
mean
number
of
drugs
per
encounter
was
2.37
(±
0.557),
ranging
from

1
to
5
drugs
per
encounter
while
mean
number
of
antibiotics
and
injections
per

encounter
were
0.32
(±
0.513)
and
0.23
(±
0.470),
ranging
from
1
to
2
antibiotics

and
injections
per
encounter
respectively.
Diagnosis
was
written
on
37.2%
(n
=

226),
of
the
prescriptions
while
results
of
Malarial
Parasite
(MP)
test
was

mentioned
in
only
9.2
%
(n=
55)
of
the
cases.
In
29.1%
(n=
175)
of
the
cases

antibiotics
and
in
21.6%
(n=
126)
of
the
cases
injections
were
prescribed.

Drugs
were
prescribed
by
their
generic
names
in
only
3%
(n=
18)
of
the

cases.
While
dose
of
the
anti-­-malarial
drugs
was
not
calculated
as
per
patient
body

weight
in
any
of
the
encounters.
The
most
commonly
prescribed
anti-­-malarial

drugs
were
chloroquine
phosphate
11
%
(n=
66),
artemether/lumefantrine
17.4
%

504