Antibiotic Prescription Pattern, Appropriateness, and Associated Factors in Patients Admitted to Pediatric Wards of Tibebe Ghion Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, North West Ethiopia

Background: Irrational prescribing of antibiotics leads to the emergence of resistant bacteria. Despite this fact, antimicrobial agents are commonly prescribed in the inpatient setting, especially in infants and children.Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the pattern of antibiotic prescription, appropriateness, and associated factors in Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the pediatric wards of TGSH from September, 2020 to August, 2021 GC. Data were collected using a structured checklist containing each patient's socio-demographic characteristics, clinical information, list of prescribed drugs, and reason for prescription. A systematic random sampling technique was used to select pediatric patients' medical records containing prescribed antibiotics. The collected data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 25 software.Results: A total of 279 pediatric patients' medical cards including at least one antibiotic were reviewed. The study revealed that antibiotics were prescribed for most of the patients (88.9%) for empiric treatment purposes. The main medical conditions for which antibiotics were prescribed were pneumonia (16.8%) and early-onset neonatal sepsis (14.0%). Ceftriaxone was the most widely used (84.9%) antibiotic among the monotherapeutic antibiotics, while ceftriaxone plus metronidazole (23.5%) was the most frequently used combination of antibiotics. A high proportion (30.8%) of the pediatric patients was exposed to inappropriate treatment. Residence in rural areas (P=0.046) and being 1 year old or younger (P<0.05) were found to be independent determinants of inappropriate drug use. Conclusion: Antibiotics were the most prescribed class of medications for pediatric patients in TGSH. Ceftriaxone and ampicillin were the most frequently prescribed antibiotics in the pediatric wards of TGSH. A high proportion of patients had been exposed to inappropriate antibiotic treatment. Early age and rural residence were found to be the factors that were significantly associated with inappropriate antibiotic utilization.