Quality of medical prescriptions from Mwangeji Hospital and Gécamines Kolwezi Staff Hospital in Kolwezi, Lualaba province, DR Congo

The medical prescription is a very important tool of communication between the physician, the patient and the pharmacist. Ambiguities and omissions of data on prescription can cause errors in drug delivery and administration and so far, endanger patients. This study was undertaken to assess the quality of medical prescription delivered in Mwangeji General Hospital (HGR Mwangeji) and Gécamines Kolwezi staff hospital (HPK-Gécamines), two health facilities in the town of Kolwezi. Medical prescriptions were collected between October 2017 and March 2018, in the pharmacy services of these two hospitals. The quality was assessed based on the presence or not of mandatory administrative and pharmacotherapeutic information. The results revealed very alarming rates of omission of legal and mandatory mentions concerning: (i) the identity of patients, their weight 92.3%, their sex 54.9% and their age 53.9%; (ii) the identity of prescribers, the date of issue of the document 97.8%, the signature 93.4% and the name 82.1%; (iii) pharmacotherapeutic data, duration of treatment 95.9% and route of administration 93,7%. Antibiotics were the most prescribed drugs in the two hospitals; 26,6% at HPK Gécamines and 23 at HGR Mwangeji. The quality of medical prescriptions at Mwangeji and HPK Gécamines hospitals, could lead to wrong or inadequate medical interventions with a negative impact on the quality of care administered to patients.