Bilal Hassan Mehboob

Irrational prescribing of antibiotics is a major cause of antimicrobial resistance worldwide. Moreover the lack of attention by the physicians to the quality of prescriptions also play a key role in antimicrobial resistance and other problems such as patient medical record keeping, inappropriate dispensing and inadequate counseling by a pharmacist. The main purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of prescription according to WHO guidelines and finding the antibiotic prescribing habits of physicians. The area of the study was limited to six branches of leading community pharmacy of Lahore. The concurrent method of study was used in the project. It was noted that generic prescribing was 1.7. Strength of drugs were 84.62%, dosage form 92.31%, dose 70.94%, frequency 74.36 %, duration 65.91 %. Basic patient information was the second set of parameters analyzed in the research. It was seen that body weight and address was present in 7.69 % and 5.98 % prescriptions respectively. Diagnosis was present in only 35 % of prescriptions. The study shows that Quinolones are the most prescribed anti-biotics (24.2%). The second most prescribed class was Cephalosporins (19.8 %). Third most prescribed class was Penicillins (13.66 %). Macrolides comprise of 8.07% of total prescribed. Others classes were Tetracyclins and Aminoglycosides (both 3.727%), Lincosamides 3.1%, and Carbapenems 2.4%.