Drug Storage Practices in Secondary Care Hospitals in Nigeria: A Pilot Study
Keywords:
Degradation, pharmaceuticals, drug storage, health commoditiesAbstract
Background: Existing guidelines specify the optimal conditions for the storage of pharmaceuticals and health commodities. However, this is often a challenge in resource limited settings due to inadequate storage infrastructure and severe shortages of appropriately trained personnel. This pilot study sought to evaluate drug storage conditions in general hospitals in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
Method: This was a questionnaire guided face-to-face interview survey and practice observation of a purposive sample of store managers in the sixteen general hospitals in Akwa Iborn State. Data was analysed descriptively using frequencies and mean while t-test was used to compare storage quality and the availability of a pharmacist as the store manager.
Results: About 63% of the hospitals surveyed showed total drug storage quality score of 8—10 that indicated acceptable quality with only a third of the stores showing scores of >10 that indicated good quality storage. Up t0 70% of the drug stores lacked electricity on day of visitation while 50% lacked a poisons and controlled drug management system. Although the mean storage quality score was slightly higher for hospitals with a pharmacist as the store manager (mean quality score = 9.8, SD: 2.04 + 0.83) compared to those with non- pharmacists (mean quality score = 9.3, SD: 1.25 + 0.39); this was not statistically significant (t (14) = -0.578, p=0.581).
Conclusion: Overall, our study findings indicate that more needs to be done in terms of availability of pharmacists in the hospital drug stores as well as overall storage practices especially in relation to the handling of controlled drugs and the provision of alternative sources of electricity.This is important given the implication of our findings on the maintenance of the cold chain and the overall quality of pharmaceuticals stored in these facilities.
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