Drug use evaluation of antibiotics prescribed in a Jordanian hospital outpatient and emergency clinics using WHO prescribing indicators.

Objective: To evaluate the use of antibiotics prescribed in hospital outpatient and emergency clinics in King Hussein Medical Centre (KHMC) using WHO prescribing indicators in an attempt to rationalize the use of antibiotics in the Royal Medical Services.

Methods: We retrospectively surveyed a sample of 187,822 antibiotic prescriptions obtained from 5 outpatient pharmacies in KHMC written over the period of 3 consecutive months (May 2007 - July 2007). The percentage of encounters of an antibiotic prescribed was calculated using the methodology recommended by the WHO.