Drug utilization pattern of analgesics after a surgical procedure in a tertiary care hospital: a prospective observational single centre cohort study

Background: the study aimed to understand the prescription pattern of analgesics used in the post-operative period after a general surgical procedure in a tertiary care hospital in India and estimate the severity of post-operative pain up to 48 hours. Such a study was not done in this institute of recent hence it was carried out. Methods: 266 adults of either gender were recruited and prescription pattern analyzed over a period of 1 year beginning January 2021 to December 2021 from the post-operative general surgery wards of a tertiary care hospital in India. Patient interview and records were used to collect data. Follow ups at 4, 24 and 48 hours were undertaken to assess pain according to the visual analogue scale (VAS) that was analyzed using the Friedman’s test followed by the post hoc Dunn’s test. Results: an average of 1.52±0.58 analgesics were prescribed per patient. Paracetamol was most commonly used followed by tramadol and diclofenac. All analgesics prescribed were a part of the national list of essential medicines. Effective pain management is feasible as seen by the significant (p<0.0001) reduction in average pain score from 4.75±1.35 to 3.05±1.18 at 24 hours and further to 2.16±1.04 at 48 hours. Conclusions: Use of analgesics prescribed from a standardized list is effective in majority of patients.