E-drug: Inpatient Drug Use Indicators Zimbabwe 1998
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As part of the work to develop hospital drug and therapeutic committees in
Zimbabwe data was collected on inpatient drug use in eight hospitals. The
hospitals were two central hospitals, three provincial hospitals, two
mission hospitals and a private hospital at a large colliery.
At each hospital 100 case notes were collected from a representative sample
of all admissions for 1997. The result of these surveys were:
Average duration of admissions: 6.65 days (3.8-9.4)
Average number of drugs per admission: 3.03 drugs (1.5 - 4.12)
Average Percentage of generics: 79% (61%-94%)
Average Percentage of Antibiotics: 35% (23%-53%)
Average Percentage of Injections: 23% (13%-37%)
The average drug cost was collected at five hospitals but different price
lists were used and so the information was not comparable. The most common
cause of admission was normal delivery in those hospitals where deliveries
were undertaken. There was no relationship between duration of admission
and drug use indicators.
The major lesson from this small study was to carefully define which
patients would be included. I would suggest that obstetric admissions be
excluded. Also it is important to agree on a standard price list which
should be used in all hospitals.
It would be interesting to hear from other hospitals in other countries how
their results compare to these results.
I am grateful to the staff of all of the hospitals involved for collecting
the data and the local project facilitators, Dr Juliet Manyemba and Mr
Cephas Dzuda who coordinated this study. WHO and Danida provided support
for the workshop at which this data was presented and analyzed.
Richard Laing
Associate Professor
Department of International Health
Boston University School of Public Health
715 Albany St
Boston MA 02118-2526
E-mail richardl@bu.edu
Tel 617 414-1444
Fax 617 638-4476
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