Prescription audit in the inpatients of a tertiary care hospital attached with medical college

Abstract

Background: Prescription audit is one of the methods to assess drug utilization and rationality of prescribing. Irrational prescribing is a worldwide problem. It is due to the faulty prescribing habits, lack of training amongst health care personnel, pressure from the pharmaceutical companies, and a lot of other reasons. Methods: The study was conducted by noting the details of patients admitted during 3 months from April to June 2015 in the Guru Gobind Singh Government Hospital, Jamnagar. Prescriptions were collected from the inpatients of medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, pediatrics, orthopedic randomly and analyzed according to the WHO core prescribing indicators. Results: Three hundred six prescriptions were analysed in which 1986 drugs were prescribed. Mean number of drugs per prescription was 6.49%. In our study, 63.34% drugs were prescribed by generic names and drugs on NLEM were 73.01%. Dosage forms used were mostly oral (69.54%). Infectious and parasitic diseases were the most common illnesses (16.01%) followed by diseases of respiratory system. The most common drug groups prescribed were GIT, antimicrobials, antihistaminics, multivitamins and minerals. The incidence of poly-pharmacy was also common with maximum number of prescriptions (26.8%) having 5 drugs per prescription. Conclusion: Prescription audit is an important measure to improve the quality of care afforded by the hospitals. Data generated on morbidity pattern coupled with current practices of treatment of these diseases provides an objective basis for preparing an NLEM. By this data we conclude that poly-pharmacy is quite common. Most of drugs were prescribed according to the NLEM 2011.

Prescription auditing based on World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators: A case of Dilla University referral hospital

“…22 , Adama Hospital Medical College (96%) 16 and public health facilities in Maharashtra of India(100%) 19 . It is higher than the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name in a study conducted at Jimma Hospital, south west Ethiopia, 75.2% 24 , Ayder hospital(83%) 15 , Eastern province, Saudi Arabia 61.2% 14 , Teaching hospital in North India, None is prescribed in generic name 18 , Garhwal (Uttaranchal), IndiaAbout 51% of the drugs were prescribed by generic names 20 , Tertiary care hospital (4.16%) Ambala, Haryana 12 . Such differences are due to prescribers interest toward brand prescription which is majorly expected to be due to promoters influence and increased number of seniour physicians.…”

A prospective study of prescribing pattern of drugs among in-patients of gynaecology department in a tertiary care teaching hospital in South India

“…26 As far as dosage forms are concerned, oral dosage forms like tablets and capsules were the highest (64.16) which was comparable to a previous study done by Darji NH et al where the percentage of oral dosage forms was found to be 69.54%. 27 The ideal percentage of injections according to WHO must be between 13.4% to 24.1% but in our study it was found to be slightly higher 33.27% as our hospital was located in a rural part where the patients believe that always injection will be better than a tablet or capsule for any disease. Use of more number of injectable drugs was observed by Patel et al while some studies by Rehan et al reported use of less number of injectable drugs by interns in north India.…”

Prescription audit of outpatients in tertiary care government hospital

“…[6][7][8] This shows in our centre the number of drugs per prescription were rational when compared to others.…”

“…[7][8][9] Antidiabetic drugs were 15.7%, 5.17, followed by antihypertensive drugs 15.7%, 7% and bronchodilators 13.16%, 10.31%. 8,10,11 Current study showed individual drugs prescribed for common conditions. Amlodipine 20%, 24% and 15%, Glimipiride 20%, 22%.…”

“…Whereas the other studies showed only about 60%, 63.34% and 4.16%. 6,8,9 Since in our tertiary care centre all doctors prescribe generic drugs and combination of drugs are not prescribed. Whereas other studies showed 23% and 35.87% in combination without generic names.…”