AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the frequency with which antibiotics were sold without a prescription, to examine factors related to such practices and to determine the appropriateness of antibiotics sold with a prescription in Sanliurfa city center in Turkey.
METHOD: This cross-sectional study was carried out between September and December 2010, on patients who visited the pharmacies to ask for antibiotics with or without prescription. To determine the research sample the cluster sampling method was used and from 186 pharmacies, 25 pharmacies were selected at random. The pharmacies were visited and asked to complete a structured questionnaire.
RESULTS: 373 patients obtained antibiotics from pharmacies. The patients who received antibiotics by prescription comprised 98.6% (n=359) of all patients. A total 36 different antibiotics had been prescribed to the patients. Inappropriate prescription of antibiotics was documented in 63.7%. The most-prescribed antibiotic was co-amoxiclav (28.8%). The rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions with the diagnosis of upper respiratory tract infection (77.8%) was highest, while the rate was lowest with the diagnosis of urinary tract infection (23.3%) (?2: 68.8, P<0.001). The rate of inappropriate prescribed antibiotics in state hospitals (53.7%) was lower than the rate in primary health care centers (72.1%) and private hospitals and clinics (64.7%) (?2: 10.4, P=0.05). There was no diagnosis of infection in 17 (4.7%) patients with prescriptions.
CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the use of antibiotics without prescription was low, while the rate of inappropriate antibiotic use was high in Sanliurfa. The use of antibiotics without prescription can potentially be prevented through interventions in the healthcare system. To prevent inappropriate antibiotic prescription, improvements to physicians’ education must be implemented, even after graduation.