Prescription Audit and the Compliance of Medicines Prescribed in Pregnant Women.

ABSTRACT

Proper use of medicines can be ensured in the society through various ways. Scientific and rational prescription is one of them, but at the same time judicious use of medicines by the patients is also equally important. Compliance of therapy can determine fate of any medicine. This study was planned to explore some important aspects of use of medicines in pregnant women in remote villages of India. This was an observational, cross sectional study using face to face interview of the pregnant ladies and also auditing the prescriptions available from them. Present study revealed that the average age of the study population was 23.6 years and primi-gravida (51.4%) constituted slight majority over multi-gravida. Most commonly prescribed medicine during pregnancy was iron, folic acid (79%) and injection tetanus toxoid (91%). A large number of pregnant women (37.5%) were non compliant with the medicine prescribed for them. In modern therapeutics, drugs or medicines play an important role in the health of any individual. But at the same time its proper use should be ensured. This study showed the importance of use of medicines by the patient. Judicious use of scarce resources on medicines not only improves the quality of therapy but also the quality of life.