# E-DRUG: Inpatient Drug Use Indicators Zimbabwe 1998 **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [January 4, 1999, 11:36am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-inpatient-drug-use-indicators-zimbabwe-1998/4136 "1999-01-04T11:36:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![richardl1951](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@richardl1951](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/richardl1951)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 1999, 11:36am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-inpatient-drug-use-indicators-zimbabwe-1998/4136/1 "1999-01-04T11:36:01Z")
E-drug: Inpatient Drug Use Indicators Zimbabwe 1998 --------------------------------------------- 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 -- Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'. Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'. For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'.