Development of drug use indicators for epilepsy

Area of Science:

• Pharmacovigilance and drug utilization studies.
• Clinical epilepsy management and patient care assessment.

Background:

• Effective epilepsy management relies on appropriate drug use and adherence to treatment guidelines.
• Assessing drug utilization is crucial for identifying areas of improvement in patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement drug use indicators for evaluating epilepsy management.
• To assess adherence to national standard treatment guidelines for epilepsy.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive survey utilizing prospective (outpatient) and retrospective (inpatient) data collection.
• Development and application of drug use and patient care indicators against the Essential Drugs List for Zimbabwe (EDLIZ).
• Assessment of anti-epileptic drug (AED) stock levels and patient management practices.

Main Results:

• Inpatients showed 60.0% adherence to EDLIZ, with suboptimal use of electroencephalograms (EEGs) and AED blood level monitoring.
• Outpatient adherence to EDLIZ was higher at 89.2%, but only 56.4% of prescribed AEDs were dispensed.
• Patients demonstrated good knowledge of medication dosage and frequency, but awareness of therapy duration was limited.

Conclusions:

• Drug use indicators provide valuable insights into epilepsy management practices.
• Identified issues include potential problems with EEG utilization and AED drug supply at Parirenyatwa Hospital.
• The sensitivity of these indicators to changes and across different healthcare settings requires further investigation.