Assessment of Rational Drug Use Based on World Health Organization Indicators in the Polyclinic of Mazar-i-Sharif City
الكلمات المفتاحية:
essential medicines، Mazar-i-Sharif city، prescribing indicators، polyclinic، Rational medicine useالملخص
Rational medicine use refers to prescribing medications in appropriate doses, for suitable durations, and at an affordable cost to patients. Rational prescribing helps reduce adverse drug reactions and promotes the efficient use of limited financial resources within healthcare systems. In 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced prescribing indicators to evaluate drug use practices in hospitals and healthcare facilities. These indicators include the average number of medicines per prescription, the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, the percentage of prescriptions containing antibiotics, the percentage containing injections, and the percentage of medicines prescribed from the Essential Medicines List. This study aimed to assess rational medicine use based on WHO prescribing indicators in the polyclinic of Mazar-i-Sharif city. This field-based, descriptive, cross-sectional, and randomized study was conducted over a defined period from 22 December 2024 to 20 August 2025. Data were collected through a review of patient prescriptions issued at the Polyclinic of Mazar-i-Sharif city. The collected data were analyzed using WHO prescribing indicators. The average number of medicines per prescription was 3.18. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 52.1%. Prescriptions containing antibiotics accounted for 51.1%, while those containing injections comprised 35.7%. In addition, 93.5% of the prescribed medicines were from the Essential Medicines List. The findings indicate that several WHO prescribing indicators—particularly the average number of medicines per prescription and the percentages of generic prescribing, antibiotic use, and injection use—were considerably higher than the recommended optimal ranges at the Polyclinic of Mazar-i-Sharif city. These results highlight the need for interventions to promote rational prescribing practices in this healthcare setting
