Rational prescription occurs when patients receive the appropriate drug in adequate dose for
the necessary period of time and it represents the safest and cheaper pharmacotherapy. The aim of this
study was to identify the information about drug use in medical prescriptions at a private hospital. It was
prescribed 2100 medicines between March 2006 and February 2007 and 44.48 % of these were prescribed
by Generic medication name. The average number of drugs per prescription was 7.42. Prescriptions of at
least one injectable drug or antibiotic were found in 58,00 % and 80,20 % of prescriptions, respectively.
Half of prescribed drugs were part of the National List of Essential Drugs (50,33 %) and the Municipal
List of Essential Drugs (55,24 %), both version 2006. The prevailing therapeutic classes were the analgesics
(8.09 %) and anti-emetics (4.61 %). Incomplete medical prescriptions difficult drug use and hinder
the service efficiency, putting at risk the quality of user assistance.