Patterns of prescription writing in psychiatric clinics

ABSTRACT

To screen the prescription-writing pattern of psychiatrists in private clinic in Peshawar for the essential elements of prescriptions and to investigate the prescribing trends at Peshawar. This observational study was carried out at LRH Peshawar on 602 prescriptionsin 5 months duration. The prescriptions were collected from the patients admitted to LRH and the variables were checked and noted directly into electronic form. Averagely 3.34 drugs were prescribed per prescription, in which drug-related variables [i] strength of medication was indicated for all drugs in 409 [67.94%] of the prescriptions and were missing for some drugs in 177 [29.4%] prescriptions, [ii] total quantity of a drug to be dispensed was indicated for any drug in just over 111[18.43%] of prescriptions, [iii] The instructions for taking the medication were complete in only 301 [50%] of prescriptions. Fluoxetine alone or in combination [8.4%] was the most commonly prescribed antidepressant. There were 319 [15.8%] non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs] and/or analgesics. Vitamin preparations accounted for 4.02% of all drugs dispensed. SSRI's were the most frequently prescribed medication in majority of prescriptions. Inconsistency regarding different prescription components was observed, such as strength of medication, frequency or instruction for medication use etc