Completeness and legibility of prescriptions and prescribing practice at two health centres on Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Background: Ensuring that prescriptions are complete, legible, and in line with good prescribing practice is essential to optimizing outcomes of medication therapy. Objectives: To assess the completeness and legibility of prescriptions, and prescribing practice at Niger Delta University Health Centre (NDUHC) and Amassoma Comprehensive Health Centre (ACHC), two primary health care centres, in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. Methods: In this retrospective study, 344 and 303 prescriptions written at NDUHC and ACHC, respectively from January 01 to December 31, 2018 were randomly selected and assessed for presence of relevant components and their legibility and prescribing pattern was assessed using the WHO indicator study. All data generated were analyzed and presented appropriately. Results: At NDUHC and ACHC, 309 (89.8%) and 297 (98.0%) prescriptions were dated while 311 (90.4%) and 84 (27.7%) had the symbol Rx, respectively. Most of the prescriptions were duly signed, but the prescriber’s name was missing in 148 (43.0%) and 302 (99.7%) prescriptions, while the designation was absent in 222 (64.5%) and 91 (30.0%) at NDUHC and ACHC, respectively. All patient-related information excluding patient’s age and weight were present in all prescriptions at ACHC but not for NDUHC. Prescriptions that were clearly legible were 24 (7.9%) and 239 (69.5%) from ACHC and NDUHC respectively. On the average, 3.91±1.35 and 4.92±1.36 drugs were prescribed per encounter at NDUHC and ACHC, respectively. Conclusion: Compliance with completeness and legibility of prescriptions at the two health facilities were grossly unsatisfactory. Only injections prescribing conformed to appropriate prescribing practice at the two centres.