Drug prescribing pattern in dermatology outpatient department at a tertiary care teaching hospital of North India – A cross-sectional survey-based study

ABSTRACT

Background: The pattern of drug use in a hospital setting needs to be monitored intermittently to analyze their rationality. Aim and Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prescribing pattern as per World Health Organization core drug use indicators. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional, single-center, and observational study. A total of 620 prescriptions were included and analyzed in dermatology outpatient attendees at a tertiary care teaching hospital. A predesigned pro forma was used to collect and compile data. All the statistical analysis was performed with the Microsoft Excel office 2019 version. Results: The average number of drugs per encounter was 4.03. The percentage of encounters with antibiotics was 33.38%. There was no prescription having an injection. The drugs prescribed by their generic names were 16.61%. Drugs prescribed from local institutional essential drugs list were 42.11%. Conclusion: Studies based on drug prescribing patterns are a very important tool not only to guide physicians to improve their prescribing habits but also for hospital administration to recognize the lacunae in drug prescribing and formulate guidelines to facilitate rational drug use.