Investigation of prescribing behavior at outpatient settings of governmental hospitals in eastern Ethiopia: an overall evaluation beyond World Health Organization core prescribing indicators

Table 4 Distribution of antimicrobials and antibacterial agents per encounter in prescriptions dispensed from Jan 1 - Dec 31 2016 at four governmental hospitals of Harar town

No. per encounter	HFSUH (n = 600)		FHPH (n = 600)		JH (n = 600)		SECIIIH (n = 600)		Overall (n = 2400)
No. per encounter	AMA	ABA	AMA	ABA	AMA	ABA	AMA	ABA	AMA	ABA
One	267 (44.5)	292 (43.5)	300 (50.0)	319 (53.2)	274 (35.7)	303 (50.5)	390 (65.0)	374 (62.3)	1231 (51.29)	1288 (53.67)
Two	85 (14.2)	46 (7.7)	96 (16.0)	61 (10.2)	97 (16.2)	50 (8.3)	55 (9.2)	17 (2.8)	333 (13.87)	174 (7.25)
Three	10 (1.7)	1 (0.2)	11 (1.8)	3 (0.5)	13 (2.2)	6 (1)	1 (0.2)	0 (0.0)	35 (1.45)	10 (0.41)
Four	1 (0.2)	0 (0.0)	2 (0.3)	0 (0.0)	2 (0.3)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	5	0
Five	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1 (0.2)	1 (0.2)	0(0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	1	1
Total Rx^a	363	339	410	384	386	359	446	391	1605 (66.9%)	1473 (61.4%)
Total drugs	471	387	538	455	515	421	558	408	2082	1671
Average drug per encounter	1.30	1.14	1.31	1.18	1.33	1.17	1.25	1.04	1.29 (±0.03)	1.13 (±0.08)

Abbreviations AMA antimicrobial agent, ABA antibacterial agent, HFSUH Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, FHPH Federal Harar Police Hospital, JH Jugel Hospital, SECIIIH Southeast command III Hospital
^aPrescriptions containing antimicrobial and/or antibacterial