COMPLETENESS ASSESSMENT OF HANDWRITTEN MEDICAL PRESCRIPTIONS IN SOUTHEAST KINSHASA COMMUNITY PHARMACIES

Medical prescription carefully conceived is essential to provide effective health care to the patient. It is a medicolegal document that should be legible, clear and complete. However, several studies have shown that prescription errors remain common worldwide, particularly in low-income countries the such Democratic Republic of Congo. This study aimed to explore the completeness of medical prescriptions in Southeast Kinshasa community pharmacies and to propose possible solutions. The study was conducted from January to Mai 2020. A total of 720 prescriptions were randomly sampled and assessed for key elements following WHO guidelines. Prescriptions analysis was performed using the descriptive statistics: percentage, mean and frequency. Prescribers, patients and drug details were recorded at an average rate of 54.41% (1.94-98.89%), 38.92% (0-94.17%), 38.23% (14.87-90.22%) and 59.28% (11.67-99.4%), 27.68% (3.05-90.55%), 38.71% (15.88-98.39%) from Ngaba and Lemba community pharmacies, respectively. Only 19.63% and 11.15% of drugs were written in generic names, respectively. The average drug number by prescription was 4.37 (1-10) and 3.29 (1-9), respectively. Our study revealed that prescription errors are a serious public health problem in Southeast Kinshasa. All health care professionals should make significant efforts to improve the completeness of prescriptions. On the other hand, health authorities should do their utmost to ensure laws regulating the health sector.