Evaluation of Antibiotics Prescribing Patterns in the Pediatric Emergency Clinic of Prince Zaid Bin Al Hussein Hospital in Jordan a Retrospective Study

— The rise in numbers of infections due to antibiotic resistant has a direct and significant impact on the disease it self, on death rates and on significant increase in healthcare expenses. The influence of antibiotic resistance is considered higher in poor countries compared to developed countries which can be related to several factors among them are the random prescribing habits and the lack of awareness of the significance of antibiotic resistance on the patients and on the disease . The purpose of the study is to illustrate the patterns of prescribing antibiotics to children who visit the emergency department in prince Zaid bin Al-Hussein hospital (PZH). Methods: Data was obtained from the emergency department at (PZH), during the period of 1st Nov to 30th of Dec 2019, a total of (3082) prescriptions were collected and sorted according to patients age then the pediatric prescriptions will be sorted and recorded according to patient age, diagnosis and antibiotics prescribed. WHO investigating indicators were followed and calculated as 1) The frequency of drugs prescribed for each patient, 2) The frequency of the number of prescribed antibiotics (number of antibiotics in each prescription), 3) The frequency of antibiotics prescribed as a generic name, and 4) The frequency of prescribed antibiotics from the drug's list of the hospital. Results: Four hundred sixty two (462) prescriptions were involved in this study. The patient`s mean age was 6.45 years. 54.87 % (no. =254) patients male. A 2.96 was an average of drugs prescribed for each patient (WHO standard is 2.0). More than one antibiotic was prescribed 77.49 % (no. =358) for all patients (WHO standard is 30 %). 100 % of the antibiotics prescribed were written by the list of essential drugs from the hospital and 97.83 % of prescribed antibiotics written as a generic name. Of all antibiotics prescribed, 81.2 % were broad-spectrum. Amoxicillin was the prevalent choice (58.1 %).The verified diagnoses were (upper and lower) respiratory tract infections (42.63 %), bronchial asthma (30.19 %), gastrointestinal infections (20.45 %) and injuries (6.7 %). Conclusions: Our study presented high rates of prescribing antibiotics in the emergency department in the pediatric section, a high rate of drugs prescribed for each patient, which indicates an irrational use of medications and not following the WHO standards. Using antibiotics for bronchial asthma or viral infections reflects the misuse or abuse of prescribing antibiotics to pediatric patients. Amoxicillin was the first choice in the emergency department in our study.