OBJECTIVES: In a recent estimate, bacterial AMR alone was responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019, exceeding the number of deaths caused by malaria and HIV over the same period. This study identifies the types of antibiotics prescribed at the various clinical departments of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) using electronic health records of patients whose prescriptions were filled at the pharmacy.

METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted at the KBTH in July 2022. Electronic health records of all patients visiting the pharmacy during the study period were assessed and prescriptions were studied. All prescriptions with at least one antibiotic were noted. The data were transferred to Stata version 17 for analyses. Both crude and adjusted estimates were calculated using antibiotic prescription (Yes/No) as response variable and variables including sex, age and number of medicines prescribed as independent variables.

RESULTS: In all 1782 prescriptions were assessed during the study period with about 29.0% of those captured having an antibiotic. About 56.5% of all prescriptions were for female patients. The ten most prescribed antibiotics were Amoxycillin/Clavulanic acid 17.8%, Metronidazole 14.8%, Ceftriaxone 12.4%, Cefuroxime 10.2%, Ciprofloxacin 9.4%, Clindamycin 6.1%, Azithromycin 5.5%, Gentamycin 2.4%, Levofloxacin 2.2%, Doxycycline 1.6% and others 17.6%. No antibiotic from the Reserve class was identified during the study period. Multivariate logistic regression showed that those with greater number of medicines per prescription were more likely to have an antibiotic as part of the medicines (odds ration (OR)=2.364 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.530 to 3.653, p< 0.001); and older people were less likely to be prescribed an antibiotic (OR=0.993 CI: 0.988 to 0.998, p=0.007

CONCLUSIONS: Studies on the prescription of antibiotics in particular, and antimicrobials in general, should be encouraged at all health facilities to ensure rational prescribing and reduce the number of medicines per prescription.