{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,28]],"date-time":"2026-02-28T22:30:18Z","timestamp":1772317818790,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,8]],"date-time":"2025-01-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1736294400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Irrational use of medicines is a problem globally that soon needs to be addressed. According to estimates from the World Health Organization, almost half of all medications were improperly prescribed. This study aimed to assess the drug prescribing patterns based on World Health Organization drug use indicators in the dermatology outpatient department of Injibara General Hospital.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method<\/jats:title><jats:p>A facility-based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from August 15 to August 30, 2024, with 620 patient prescriptions issued at the dermatology outpatient department of Injibara General Hospital. All patient prescriptions dispensed from the dermatology outpatient department from April to July 2024 were included. A structured data collection tool adopted from the World Health Organization core medicine use indicator was used to collect data, and Statistical Package for Social Science version 27.1 was used for data analysis.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>An average of 1.74 drugs per encounters was prescribed, with 21.6 and 3.1% of prescriptions being antibiotics and injections, respectively. Generics were used in 95.4% of prescriptions, and nearly 84% of drugs were prescribed from the Ethiopian essential-drug list.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The World Health Organization\u2019s recommended threshold for the average number of prescriptions prescribed per encounter was met, indicating proper prescribing practices that reduce polypharmacy. The percentage of encounters with antibiotics was within the World Health Organization\u2019s value, which reflects that dermatologists are less likely engaging in irrational antibiotic prescriptions. Likewise, the World Health Organization\u2019s recommendations for the percentage of encounters with injection was met, indicating an effort to minimize unnecessary use of injections by dermatologists, which can reduce complications associated with injection use. However, the World Health Organization\u2019s guidelines for generic drug prescriptions were not met, suggesting that dermatologists are less likely to prescribe generic drugs, which can raise patient healthcare expenditures considerably. Prescriptions from the Ethiopian essential medicine list also fell short of World Health Organization\u2019s standards, indicating a failure to follow established guidelines.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2024.1499974","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,8]],"date-time":"2025-01-08T05:11:24Z","timestamp":1736313084000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Evaluation of drug prescribing pattern based on World Health Organization drug use indicators in dermatology outpatient department of Injibara General Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia, 2024"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Alemu Bezabih","family":"Tegegnie","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tamiru","family":"Alene","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Habtamu Nega","family":"Bogale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Workineh","family":"Tamir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Meaza Molla","family":"Sineshaw","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,1,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","first-page":"2","article-title":"Study on drug prescribing pattern in dermatology outpatient department in a tertiary care teaching hospital","volume":"6","author":"Herakal","year":"2020","journal-title":"Manipal J Pharmaceutical Sci"},{"key":"ref2","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.4314\/ejpch.v17i1.5","article-title":"Pattern of skin diseases in children attending the dermatology clinic in Alert referral hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: a retrospective study","volume":"17","author":"Gashaw","year":"2022","journal-title":"Ethiop J Pediatr Child Health"},{"key":"ref4","first-page":"173","article-title":"Prescription pattern and adverse drug reaction profile of drugs prescribed in dermatology out-patient department at a tertiary care teaching hospital","volume":"3","author":"Motghare","year":"2016","journal-title":"IJPP"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1186\/1472-6963-13-170","article-title":"Assessment of drug use pattern using WHO prescribing indicators at Hawassa university teaching and referral hospital, South Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study","volume":"13","author":"Desalegn","year":"2013","journal-title":"BMC Health Serv Res"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.4236\/pst.2018.61001","article-title":"Prescribing pattern for skin diseases in dermatology OPD at Borumeda hospital, north east","volume":"6","author":"Tegegne","year":"2018","journal-title":"Ethiopia Pain Stud Treat"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"73","DOI":"10.1016\/0168-8510(95)90068-3","article-title":"How to investigate drug use in health facilities. 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