Prevalence and Management of Diarrhoea in Out- Patient Children Less Than 5years of Age at the Princess Marie Louis Hospital (P.M.L.), Accra Ghana
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Date
2010-07-12
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Abstract
The outpatient department of the Princess Marie Louis Hospital (children’s hospital) is in a community at Korle-Wokon; an indigenous settlement in Accra, Ghana. Diarrhoea is a factor to be considered because from the hospitals records it forms 29.94% of out-patients visit to the hospital. The study seeks to find out the prevalence and management of diarrhea for children less than five years and find out the treatment as pertaining to the PML and access or prove otherwise whether the WHO/MOH prescription of using the treatment guidelines is being followed. The study used two weeks with the aim of getting a varied correct representation of the issue from 5th January, 2004 to 20th January, 2004 to avoid rush periods and occasions like Christmas and other pressures to affect the number of visit leading to more pressure on the prescribers. Data was collected from prescription cards using a questionnaire.
The total number of children under age 5 who visited the hospital for the 14 days were 1186, three hundred and twenty seven (327) were diagnosed with diarrhoea giving a high prevalence of nearly 28 percent. One hundred and forty (43%) were prescribed ORS and two hundred and forty (73 %) were prescribed antibiotics. Antibiotics used includes amoksiklav (amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid), erythromycin syrup, chloramphenicol syrup, syrup co-trimoxazole, crystalline penicillin injection, amoxycillin, tetracycline capsules, cloxacllin syrup and suspension fluclaxacillin, nystatin oral drops, nalidixic acid tablet, metronidazole tablet and syrup, metrolex-F (metronidazole plus flurazolide).
Description
A Thesis submitted to the Department of Clinical and Social Pharmacy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE (Clinical Pharmacy).