PHYSICIAN’S ADHERENCE TO INTERNATIONAL TREATMENT GUIDELINES FOR MAJOR PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS: A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY FROM PALESTINE
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Date
2022-11-03
Authors
Huda Said Shebli
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Abstract
Background: Psychiatric disorders are progressively considered among the common health disorders affecting people worldwide. Data from Western countries show that psychiatric disorders are relatively prevalent.
Objectives: In this study, we aimed to assess the Palestinian psychiatrist’s adherence to the international treatment guidelines in treating common psychiatric disorders. In addition, we aimed to explore the factors associated with non-adherence to the treatment guidelines.
Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted to examine psychiatrist’s adherence to treatment guidelines and the factors associated with the non-adherence of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorders, which was obtained from the period May 2021 to September 2021 in an outpatient psychiatric clinic in the north of West Bank, Palestine.
Results: A total of 1070 prescriptions were examined. Most patients were aged between 36 and 55 years (47.8%), and two-thirds were males (63.8%). Most of the patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia (46%), while the rest were diagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective, and anxiety (22.7%, 18.2%, 9.1%, and 4%, respectively). In general, the most commonly prescribed drugs were typical anti-psychotics (47%), followed by atypical antipsychotics, SSRIs, TCAs, BZD, anti-convulsants, and lithium (39.9%, 22.7%, 20.7%, 15.3%, 14.3%, and 3.6%, respectively).
Moreover, the study showed that the majority of psychiatric prescriptions (76.8%) were non-adherent to treatment guidelines and 64.7% of them were for males while 47.5% of non-adherent prescriptions were for adult patients aged 36-55 years old. The non-adherent prescriptions were significantly higher among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (50.73%) (p-value=0.000). In addition, the study found that the majority of non-adherent prescriptions (37%) were due to the drug’s unavailability in the psychiatric clinic.
Conclusions: The pharmacotherapy of the major psychiatric disorders in Palestine was not in line with the international treatment guidelines. The most common factors which were associated with the non-adherence are schizophrenia and drug unavailability.
Keywords: Adherence; Factors; Guidelines; Outpatients; Psychiatric Disorders.