Pharmacy Practice

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Browsing Pharmacy Practice by Author "Asfaw, Getachew"

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    Antipsychotic Medications Switch and Contributing Factors among Ambulatory Patients with Schizophrenia at Amanuel Specialized Mental Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa Universty, 2017-12) Asfaw, Getachew; Nedi, Teshome (PhD, Associate professor)
    Antipsychotic medications switch and contributing factors among ambulatory patients with schizophrenia at Amanuel Specialized Mental Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Getachew Asfaw December, 2017 Antipsychotic medications are the cornerstone of treatment for schizophrenia. Antipsychotic switching is a common practice in the treatment of schizophrenia. As there is limited current data on antipsychotics medication switch among patient with schizophrenia in Ethiopia; this study aimed to generate information on antipsychotics medication switch among patient with schizophrenia. Using a systematic random sampling a cross sectional patient interview and retrospective chart review of the same patients was conducted from 1 to 30, November 2016. A total of 411 study participants were included in the study. Three Focus Group Discussion was also conducted with 24 health care professionals from different departments. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed for the quantitative part of the study and a thematic analysis was taken for the qualitative study. The result showed that, there has been medication switch in 42.8% of the study participants and in 64% of the participants the switch was shown to be within the same class of First Generation Antipsychotics. For more than half of the patients (55.68%) who had a medication switch, the reasons for initial antipsychotic medication switch were not documented. Side effects, relapse, admission history, high and very high dose of antipsychotic were significantly associated with antipsychotic medication switches. The Focus Group Discussion revealed that interrupted supply of antipsychotic medication was raised as the major reason for the switch. The practice of antipsychotic medications switch in the setting is within the range in terms of prevalence worldwide and reasons for medications switch were not recorded for majority of the patients. Clear and complete recording of the reasons should be maintained by clinicians whenever switching is considered.