Relevance and Availability of Ophthalmic Prescription Drugs at a Public Hospital in Bogotá

Abstract

<em><strong>Objectives</strong><em> to determine the quality of ophthalmic drug prescription in terms of relevance, therapeutic group, dosage and correspondence with the list of essentials, known as the Compulsory Health Plan (POs, for its initials in spanish), according to the prescriber’s characteristics in the ophthalmology and optometry services at a hospital in Bogotá. <em><strong>Methodology</strong><em> An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional (prevalence) study was made during 2007-2008, called the “drug utilization research” (DuR). <em><strong>Results</strong><em> It was identified that most ophthalmic prescription drugs are not part of the POs, fitting better in the ophthalmological group. the prescribed medication’s correspondence with the pathology to be solved, which is called indication-prescription pertinence, is higher in ophthalmologist prescriptions. Prescription errors such as “omission in pharmaceutical form”, “dosage and concentration”, “inappropriate medication for diagnosis” and “brand name prescription” are more frequently found in optometrist prescriptions. <em><strong>Conclusions</strong><em> there is a link between the age, gender and profession of the prescriber and the prescribed medication’s quality, which explains the errors in prescription and belonging in the list of essentials.