The Prescribing Practice of Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City

The prescribing habits of physicians in primary health care centres were studied to assess the contents of prescriptions and the extent to which attempts were made to educate the patient about the prescribed drugs. The study involved six physicians at three primary health care centres in Riyadh city, and 1090 consultations, over a 4-week period. The prescribing rate was assessed, also the weighted scores of contents of the issued prescription, and whether an effort was made to educate the patient or not. Overall 85.3% of the examined patients were issued with prescriptions. On average each prescription contained 1.7 therapeutic items. Of those prescribed 96% were available within the essential drug list. The prescription content score was generally unsatisfactory