Assessment of Legibility and Completeness of Prescriptions at Tertiary Care Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study

Sajeel Saeed; Kashif Tousif; Tehseen Haider; Rubaid Azhar Dhillon; Mohammad Ebad ur Rehman; Attiya Munir; Omaima Asif; Nabeel Asif; Muhammad Arish

doi:10.1192/bjo.2022.503

Assessment of Legibility and Completeness of Prescriptions at Tertiary Care Hospitals: A Cross-Sectional Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 June 2022

Sajeel Saeed ,

Kashif Tousif ,

Tehseen Haider ,

Rubaid Azhar Dhillon ,

Mohammad Ebad ur Rehman ,

Nabeel Asif and

Sajeel Saeed: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Kashif Tousif: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Tehseen Haider: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Rubaid Azhar Dhillon: Affiliation:
Riphah International University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Mohammad Ebad ur Rehman: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Attiya Munir: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Omaima Asif: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Nabeel Asif: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
Muhammad Arish*: Affiliation:
Rawalpindi Medical University, Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
*: *Presenting author.

Article contents

Abstract

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Abstract

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Aims

The aim of this study was to assess the legibility as well as components of a prescription prescribed by doctors in tertiary care hospitals of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Methods

An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in pharmacies of two allied hospitals of Rawalpindi Medical University. Data were collected using stratified randomized sampling. A total of 661 prescriptions were selected and analysed for legibility by three experts. SPSS version 26.00 and Graph Pad Prism were used to enter and analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, correlational model and multinomial logistic regression were applied.

Results

A total of 1982 drugs were prescribed in 661 prescriptions. A total of 46.0% prescriptions were classified in grade 2 and 32.1% in grade 3. On average, 55.74% prescriptions were found to be complete. On average, prescriber's information, patient's information and medication details were present in 72.64%, 57.25%, and 36.73% prescriptions, respectively. Grade 1 (AOR = 0.62), grade 2 (AOR = 0.83), and grade 3 (AOR = 0.85) prescriptions had less odds of being complete compared to grade 4 prescriptions.

Conclusion

Majority of the prescriptions prescribed at tertiary care hospitals were barely legible and also quite a number of prescriptions were incomplete.

Type: Psychopharmacology
Information: BJPsych Open , Volume 8 , Supplement S1: Abstracts of the RCPsych International Congress 2022, 20–23 June , June 2022 , pp. S181 - S182

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2022.503 [Opens in a new window]
Creative Commons: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.