Enhancing WHO prescription writing guideline adherence through an educational intervention: a quality improvement study of Azad Jammu and Kashmir

Background: Prescription writing is an important component of healthcare delivery and can directly influence patient safety and treatment outcomes. Prescription errors are common in developing countries because of the lack of national guidelines. This two-cycle clinical audit assessed the impact of educational interventions on improving prescription writing practices.

Methods: A cross-sectional prospective clinical audit was conducted in the Out Patients Department (OPD) of the District Head Quarters (DHQ) Hospital in Bhimber, Azad Jammu, and Kashmir. A total of 100 randomly selected prescriptions were reviewed for each cycle from July to August 2023. The authors recorded compliance with WHO guidelines for prescription writing before and after the educational intervention. Microsoft Excel and SPSS version 25.0 were used for statistical analysis. Categorical variables were analyzed using frequencies and percentages.

Results: An improvement in compliance was observed during the second audit cycle, after the educational intervention. The greatest improvement was observed in documenting the allergic status of patients (62%) and the direction of drug administration (40%). The authors also observed improvements in the treatment duration (>10%), patient weight, physician registration number, diagnosis, and follow-up advice. The legibility of prescriptions also improved during the second audit cycle.

Conclusion: This study shows that integrating an educational intervention into a clinical audit can improve prescription writing practices and ultimately result in a better quality of care for patients.