Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on Drug Store Management in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital of Central India

Abstract

Introduction: One-third of the annual hospital budget is spent on the purchase of medicines, materials, and supplies. Drug store management is a complex but critical process within the healthcare delivery system. Health supply chains, the import of active pharmaceutical ingredients, transportation, procurement, finished products have been disrupted by COVID-19. Materials & methods: A retrospective, observational study was carried out at the Department of Hospital Administration, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raipur. Quantitative data about the pattern of consumption of 20 most commonly used drugs (10 antibiotics, three analgesics, three antipyretics, two anticoagulants, and two steroids), and 20 most frequently used consumables were sourced from existing records of the Central Pharmacy for 24 months between 1st January 2019 to 31st December 2020. Results: A significant rise in the consumption pattern was seen in 25 drugs and consumables out of 40 total selected drugs and consumables. The maximum increase was observed in antibiotics followed by antipyretics, and the least increase was observed in analgesics followed by anticoagulants. Tablet Azithromycin 500 mg was the most frequently used antibiotic during the COVID-19 Period as compared to the Pre-COVID-19 period followed by injection Piperacillin + Tazobactam. The only antibiotic having a decline in consumption and also with the lowest consumption was tablet Metronidazole 400 mg. The highest increase in consumables occurs by 10088% in N95 Masks, followed by 573% in shoe covers, and 153% in face masks (three-layers), respectively. Conclusion: This study will enhance education to the pharmaceutical industries, policymakers to the Government, and other hospitals on how to better manage drug stores in future pandemic-like situations. Proper drug store management played a crucial role in medication usage that improved patient outcomes and prevented the misuse of medications. The pattern of changes in the consumption of drugs and consumables in the present study can be utilized by other hospitals in the third wave of the pandemic.

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic consumption: A systematic review comparing 2019 and 2020 data

“…Contrary to the consistent decrease in overall antibiotic consumption in the community, there was a different trend in antibiotic consumption in hospitals (13,14,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)). An increase was reported in hospitals in Spain, Italy, India, and the UK.…”

“…Full text of remaining 66 articles were reviewed, and finally, 16 articles were included in this systematic review (13-28) (Figure 1). Eight studies reported only hospital-based results (13,14,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28), nine reported only community-level antibiotic consumption (14-22), and one [conducted in England ( 14)] reported antibiotic consumption in both hospitals and communities (Tables 2, 3). Although we did not limit the studies to the year 2020, we could not find any study that reported antibiotic consumption in 2021 through the systematic review.…”

“…These hospital-based studies were conducted in Lebanon, Spain, Italy, India, Brazil, China, and the UK (13,14,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28). Community antibiotic consumption studies were conducted in Jordan, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Spain, the UK, Japan, and the EU (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22).…”

“…Our review results showed that the studies were mostly published in high-income countries. Only one community-based study was reported from a middle-income country (Jordan) ( 16 ) and three hospital-based studies from India ( 26 ), Brazil ( 27 ), and China ( 23 ). Furthermore, no studies have been conducted in low-income countries.…”

Trends in the Use of Sedative-Hypnotics, Opioids, and Neuromuscular Blockers in Hospitalized Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observational Retrospective Study

“…Likewise, the Colombian Association of Intensive Care Medicine and the Colombian Society of Anesthesiology generated specific documents with recommendations for the sedation and analgesia approach in the context of the pandemic and drug shortages [15], which included the use of inhaled sedatives (a suggestion also reviewed by other authors [16,17]). The call for the rational use of pharmaceutical resources was widely described in the world, taking as example some publications in Singapore [18], the United States [19,20], India [21], and Italy [22]. Some limitations of this type of analysis are recognized, including that it did not consider variables related to drug consumption such as patient age, weight, and diagnosis, or the production and importation conditions according to the global demand for sedatives, opioids, and neuromuscular blockers.…”