ABSTRACT
Introduction: Oral morphine is extracted from a naturallyoccurring opium plant. It has been reviewed as a potentanalgesic and according to the World Health Organization(WHO) its use is recommended as the drug of choice for thetreatment of severe pain, including cancer pains and variousother types of pains. However, a large proportion of doctorsare hesitant to prescribe morphine because of the unfoundedfear of addiction. The main aim of this study was to assess themorphine prescribing pattern of doctors in conformity withthe international guidelines.Material and Methods: The present study was a descriptiveanalysis of oral morphine prescriptions made within a 6months period, between 2016 and 2017. All the prescriptionsfor the patients with pain under oral morphine in the hospitalrecords were reviewed.Results: The results showed that (53.6%) of all morphineprescriptions were from the Oncology Department/OPD,while the newly created Day Care Unit accounted for 43.9% ofthe prescriptions. Almost nil prescriptions were seen from theLabour ward. Only 1.2% of all the prescriptions conformed tointernational guidelineConclusion: The results reflected that there was a needfor more education and advocacy programmes to increaseawareness among doctors about morphine prescriptions.The cancer study revealed the useful information related toepidemiology of cancer among both the genders in Nepalwhich will prove to be useful in health planning and futureresearch.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The global problem of acute poisoning hasconstantly increased over the last few years. It is a majorcause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries.Appropriate preventive and management strategies can bedeveloped if the incidence and pattern of acute poisoningis known. This study aimed to determine the profile andoutcomes of acute poisoning patients admited to the hospitalthrough emergency department of a tertiary care hospital.Material and Methods: A hospital based retrospective studywas performed in the patients admitted to tertiary hospital withthe history of poisoning for the period of one year. Severalparameters were analyzed and compared with other studies.Results: Seventy-nine patients were presented with acutepoisoning during our study period. The age of the patientvaried from 11 to 63 years. The mean age was 27.76±15.5%.Females (53.2%) were dominant over males (46.8%). Patientsaged between 21 to 30 years were the most common age groupinvolved with poisoning. Subjects were most commonlyaffected by organophosphorous poisoning followed bychemical poisoning.Conclusion: Poisoning by agents like drugs (pesticides) andorganophosphorus compounds are alarming situation andthese occur mostly during adolescent period. Governmentregulations, educational awareness and poison informationcentres will help to decrease the growth of this public healthproblem