ABSTRACT
Background: To study and describe the prevailing prescription trend in burns patients in a tertiary care rural hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study. Total 100 patients diagnosed with burn injury and admitted during Jan 2012 to Dec 2013 were included in the study. The demographic details, details of burn injury & treatment received were obtained from the medical record section of Dhiraj General Hospital, Piparia. Drug prescriptions were analyzed using Microsoft Excel for total number of drugs per prescription, various classes of drugs prescribed and group of antibiotics commonly prescribed. Results: Most common age group affected was 20-40 years. The female to male ratio was 1.8:1. Average number of drugs prescribed was 6.8 with a range of 4-9 drugs per prescription. All prescriptions (100%) contain antimicrobials, analgesics and antiulcer drugs. Among antimicrobials, ceftriaxone was most commonly prescribed followed by amikacin and amoxicillin + clavulanic acid. Only 18% patients were immunized against tetanus. Conclusions: Females are more vulnerable to burn injuries. Polypharmacy was observed in prescriptions. Systemic antibiotic should be used with caution to prevent emergence of resistant microorganisms. Results of the present study indicate that some aspects of drug treatment need to be rationalized in order to achieve better patient care.
ABSTRACT
Background: The study was conducted to compare the current prescribing trends of Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) among private practitioners and practitioners at tertiary care teaching rural hospital. Methods: The prospective survey study was carried out by obtaining response to feedback questionnaire related to use of NSAIDs from 25 private & 25 tertiary care practitioners. Results: NSAIDs use was routine amongst private (66%) and tertiary care (77.6%) practitioners. Preferences of tertiary care practitioners were paracetamol (36%), diclofenac (20%), aceclofenac (20%), ibuprofen (20%) and etoricoxib (4%) while that of private practitioners were ibuprofen (40%), paracetamol (32%), diclofenac (16%) and aceclofenac (12%). Use of Fixed Dose Combinations (FDC) was 72% in private and 68% in tertiary care practitioners. While prescribing FDCs, private practitioners preferred NSAIDs + NSAIDs (100%) over NSAIDs + muscle relaxants (44.44%), NSAIDs + Serratiopeptidase (55.56%), and NSAIDs + antacids (44.44%) similarly tertiary care practitioners also preferred NSAIDs + NSAIDs (100%) over NSAIDs + muscle relaxants (47.06%), NSAIDs + Serratiopeptidase (36%), and NSAIDs + antacids (28%). Of the NSAIDs + NSAIDs combination ibuprofen + paracetamol (70%) was preferred by private practitioners and diclofenac + paracetamol (61%) by tertiary practitioners. Paracetamol was safely used during pregnancy by both groups. Adverse effects observed included gastritis (98%), urticaria (32%), and anaphylaxis (2%), although no fatality was observed. Conclusion: Not much of a difference was observed in prescribing habits of both groups. Though beneficial and routinely prescribed, NSAIDs with equal risk potential were observed to be cautiously used with appropriate knowledge amongst both the groups.