Factors Influencing the General Practitioners’ Number of Prescribed Drugs in National Health Insurance at Gezira State, Sudan
Siripen Supakankunti, Bashir Mohamed ElmahiYousif

Abstract
Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the mean medication per encounter for General Practitioners (GPs) and its influencing factors in the NHIF, Sudan. Method: The study had followed WHO established guidelines. A cross-sectional retrospective study was carried out across six months. Controlled questionnaires were completed by 197 general practitioners representing 90% of the total study population. For each doctor, a systematic random sample of one hundred prescriptions were collected. Poisson regression was executed to detect the relationship between numbers of drugs per prescription as dependent variable the doctor, practice, patient, and drug-related factors as independent variables. Results: The mean medication per patient was 2.55±1.32.The low number of drugs significantly correlated with doctors who have higher education, younger, and exposure to peer contact and medical discussions. Doctor nativity, number of patients per day, and patients from urban areas were significantly associated with high number of drugs per encounter. The younger patients and patients with chronic diseases had high number of medications. The government employed GPs had prescribed lower number of drugs than others. Conclusion: Promotion of GPs education, permanent type of employment and reduction of chronic diseases’ prevalence are crucial to reduce the poly-pharmacy practice among GPs.

Full Text: PDF