[Quality of prescriptions in a city of Minas Gerais: a pharmacoepidemiological approach]

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the quality of medical prescriptions dispensed in pharmacies.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess if prescriptions met all the necessary requirements. A total of 800 prescriptions was collected in four different pharmacies in the city of Muriaé, MG. Prescriptions were assessed according to the requirements of the WHO indicators, including presence and legibility of essential information.

Results: Each prescription contains an average of 2.2 medications, and 22.1% of drugs were antibiotics. Drugs were prescribed by generic name in 33% of all prescriptions and 46.5% were part of RENAME. As for readability, 32% of prescriptions had poor legibility, 36% were illegible, and 32% readable. Essential information was lacking in several respects: the pharmaceutical form (64%), concentration (47%), dose (22%), interval between doses (63%), duration of treatment (30%) and route of administration (84%) were absent in prescriptions.

Conclusion: The prescriptions assessed in this study did not provide all the information necessary for correct and safe use of medication and drugs. They were largely legible, showed a high percentage of trade names with limited presence in the RENAME and many were for antibiotics.