Rational Drug Use - Essay Example

Name: Institution: Title: Rational Drug Use Tutor: Course : Date: Introduction Proper drug use needs drugs’ prescription on rational basis. Aggressive marketing of drugs, inadequate information on drug use and shortages of drugs are the main causes for irrational use of drugs. Rational use of drugs needs prescription of suitable drugs, that is, drugs need to be available at right time, at a price that people can afford and taken in the correct dose at the correct intervals and for the correct length of time. Irrational drug use is an obvious practice in developing nations. Appropriate drug use is an important element in attaining quality health and medical care for patients and the entire community (Hansen & Parthasarathi, 2004). Rational drug use WHO define rational use of drug as a requirement by patients to receive medications that is appropriate with their clinical requirement, in doses that attain the individual needs of patients for a good period of time and at a cost that is friendly to both patients and the entire community. Rational use of drug can also be defined simply as prescribing the correct drug, in sufficient dose, adequate duration and suitable to clinical requirements of patient at a cost that is very low. Currently rational drug use has attained importance in terms of medical, legal aspect and socio economical. A number of factors have led to sudden recognition of rational use of drug. Drug explosion is one of the factors. Enhanced cost of treatment has also led to sudden recognition of rational drug use. Enhance in the cost of drug usually increases the economic burden on the public and the government. This is usually minimized by rational use of drug. Consumer protection act has greatly resulted in sudden recognition of rational drug use. Extension of consumer protection act in the profession of medicine can restrict the irrational drug use (Desselle & Zgarrick, 2004). Desselle and Zgarrick, (2004) argues that it is always hard for medicines to be used rationally unless all the people that are involved in pharmaceutical supply chain are able to access objective information concerning the drug that they are purchasing and using. Knowledge and matters concerning drugs are continuously changing and clinicians therefore are expected to be aware about the modern development in drug therapy. The pre-request for rational drug use are: Critical analysis and evaluation of benefits and risk using drugs Comparison of advantages, limitations, safety and cost of the drug with the prevailing drug for a number of indication Cases of rational and irrational drug use Governments in developing nations spend approximately twenty to fifty percent of their national budget on drugs and health sundries. This therefore creates an economic effect of pharmaceuticals on economies of these nations. In many developing nations pharmaceuticals are the biggest public expenditure on health. The substantial cost that is usually placed on drugs gives reason why all the countries in the world are concerned about drugs. Studies conducted in Nigeria and Cameroon shows that drugs are useful resource in developing nations. The availability of drugs is usually taken as an indicator of quality care (Seiter, 2010). Governments therefore are always concerned about handling, availability and effective and rational use of drugs. W.H.O policy perception on medicine shows that even though drugs are made available, at least 50% of these drugs are usually prescribed, dispensed or sold irrationally while 50% of patients normally fails to take medicines correctly thus leading to harmful costs. In Nigeria, about 60% of antibiotics were prescribed unnecessary in 2000. Rational drug use in Saudi Arabia Since the establishment of health care system within Saudi Arabia’s kingdom in mid 1950s, the system of health care has changed tremendously. The modernization and expansion process of health care system was very fast by all standards. Though the health ministry is the core authority that is responsible for health care provision in Saudi Arabia, other sectors in the government such as ministry of defense, ministry of interior and national guard have began also to provide health care to their workers and dependents. The policy of Saudi Arabia’s government on health care is to give health service free of charge, incorporating drugs, to every citizen and resident expatriates. According to Seiter, (2010), drugs’ provision on large scale plus ensuring subsequent rational use is a huge undertaking for ministry of health in Saudi Arabia. This therefore has created the need for proper guidelines and sufficient control for distribution and rational use of drugs. In Saudi Arabia, the need for development of national drug policy and promotion of rational use was identified early and useful measures of addressing the issue were assumed by approval of two essential laws that governs pharmacy profession and registration of pharmaceuticals. The rapid development of pharmaceutical industry in developed nations has been accountable for flooding of products of both verified and questionable qualities in developing nations. This together with industry’s concentrated advertising campaign in developing nations has weakened health education plans. It has also harmfully influenced the drug use pattern among the population. Strong evidence concerning over-prescription and drug misuse with its societal effects prevail in Saudi Arabia. Over-prescription can always be managed by adhering to fundamental rules or standards of drugs prescription. Every drug therapy needs to be useful, safe, proper and economical for a person being treated. By setting these standards, it can be understood that drug therapy comprises a balance of advantages and disadvantages for a person being given treatment (Kroenke, 1995). Through appropriate documentation of information’s prescription, recognition of healthy and harmful drugs, prescribing exercise can be possible and the frequency and significance of developed drug reactions can be assessed effectively. The effective implementation of a given program or plan to minimize the costs of drugs at hospitals or national level cannot prosper if the plan does not take into account social, cultural and forces of the market or if it is not supported by effective legislation. The evaluation of drug use process that gives feedback concerning private prescribing patterns to clinicians provides a way of depending on information that has been subjected to good judgment and can enhance the quality of care. This is always attained only if the prescriber is capable of identifying the problem and is ready to change his or her habits of prescribing (Abood, 2010). Conclusion From the discussion it is evident that rational drug can be defined as prescribing the correct drug, in sufficient dose, adequate duration and suitable to clinical requirements of patient at a cost that is very low. It is also evident that drugs are useful resources in developing nations such as Nigeria and Cameroon. In Saudi Arabia, system of health care has changed tremendously. Documentation of drug use information is an important step in instituting the process of rational drug use. Rational use of drugs in Saudi Arabia should also be supported by effective legislation. Bibliography Hansen N.K., & Parthasarathi G., 2004, Text Book Of Clinical Pharmacy, Orient Blackswan: New York. Desselle P., S., & Zgarrick P., D., 2004, Pharmacy management: essentials for all practice settings, McGraw-Hill Professional: New York. Seiter A., 2010, A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy, World Bank Publications: New York. Abood R., 2010, Pharmacy Practice and the Law, Jones & Bartlett Learning: New York. Redd M. et al., 2001, Energy calculations in rational drug design, Springer, London. Grace, D., 2008, Rational drug use: practical training for farmers. ILRI. ILCA and ILRAD. Vick, D., 2010, Drugs & Alcohol in the 21st Century: Theory, Behavior, & Policy, Jones & Bartlett Learning, New Jersey. Grace, D., 2008, Rational drug use. To better manage trypanosomosis and trypanocide resistance. ILRI ( ILCA and ILRAD) van Boxtel C., 2008, Drug Benefits and Risks: International Textbook of Clinical Pharmacology. IOS Press, London. Jagadish P., P., 2005, Conceptual Pharmacology. Universities Press, New York. Sebai ZA., 1987, Health services in Saudi Arabia: Part I: an overview. Saudi Med J; 8:541-8. Saleh I., 2001, Licensing and registration of drugs in Saudi Arabia: appropriate use of medicines. College of Pharmacy, KingSaud University, 1; 18-20. Miles, DL., 2000, Multiple prescriptions and drug appropriateness. Health Service Res 2000;12:3-10. Kroenke, K., 1995, Polypharmacy xause, consequences, and cure. Am J Med,149-52. Read More