ABSTRACT
Background: In surgical wards, drugs are required to manage pain, nausea, vomiting, infections, etc. A growing number of pharmaceutical products are available in present era. Irrational prescribing of drugs is prevalent worldwide. Drug utilization study can be used to assess prescribing patterns. Authors undertook this study to determine current practice of prescribing in surgical wards of the hospital.Methods: Authors conducted observational, noninterventional, descriptive study among patients admitted in surgical wards for one year. Authors have analysed collected data of 604 patients using descriptive statistics to determine utilization pattern of drugs and drug use indicators.Results: Appendicitis (14.9%) followed by hernia (10.6%) were leading diseases for admission. Mean duration of stay was 7.44. Average number of drugs in a prescription was 8.94. Antibiotics (32.07 %), analgesics (17.11 %) and antacids (16.09 %) were leading drug groups prescribed. Amikacin (5.81 %) followed by metronidazole (5.30 %) and ciprofloxacin (5.19 %) were commonly prescribed antimicrobial drugs. Tramadol (5.31 %) and pantoprazole (7.17 %) were leading drugs prescribed from analgesics and antacids respectively. All prescriptions had at least one injectable drug. At least one antibiotic was present in 92.05 % prescriptions. Majority of drugs (87.27 %) were prescribed by generic names. Proportion of drugs prescribed from essential medicine list was 84.22 %.Conclusions: Polypharmacy and injectable drug prescribing were common in practice. There is a scope for improving such prescribing practices among practitioners. Use of multiple antibiotics should be avoided whenever possible and usage should be evidence based.
ABSTRACT
Background: Irrational prescribing is a common phenomenon, seen among medical practitioners. Knowledge, awareness, and attitude denote the practicing trends among the practitioners. The objective of this study was to describe the prescribing practices in Ophthalmology outpatient department (OPD) to promote rational prescribing. Methods: This study was conducted between January 2011 to June 2011, in Department of Pharmacology and Ophthalmology, SGRRIM and HS, Dehradun, Uttarakhand. A total number of 255 prescriptions were randomly collected from the Ophthalmology OPD and were analyzed for various parameters using national essential medicine list 2011 and World Health Organization drug use indicators. Results: A total number of 255 prescriptions were evaluated for prescribing pattern, 153 (60%) patients were between 16 and 45 years of age, the male: female ratio was 1.13:1. 237 (93%) patients from middle socioeconomic status. Diseases pattern observed were conjunctivitis 102 (40%), refractive error 45 (17.64%), stye 12 (4.7%), cataract 9 (3.52%), and miscellaneous 87 (34.12%). One hundred and thirty-eight (54.11%) patients received antimicrobial agents, fluoroquinolone (ofloxacin, moxifloxacin, gatifloxacin, etc.) were the most frequently prescribed antimicrobial drugs, analgesics (diclofenac and ketorolac) were prescribed to 45 (17.64%) patients, 54 (21.17%) received steroids (dexamethasone and prednisolone), 96 (37.64%) patients received other drugs (carboxymethylcellulose [CMC], multi-vitamins, zinc preparations, acyclovir, and anti-allergics). Fixed dose combinations (FDCs) were used in 90 (35.29%) patients, the most common combination was antimicrobials with steroids. All the drugs were prescribed by brand names and 1.9 drug/prescription was used. Conclusion: Topical antimicrobial agents are the most commonly used drugs in ophthalmic OPD in our setup; the most common FDCs prescribed were antimicrobials with steroids, the other commonly used drugs were analgesics, CMC and anti-allergic drugs.