Background: Irrational prescribing is a global problem. Irrational drug use leads to reduction in the quality of drug therapy, spoilage of resources, raised treatment expenditure, heightened danger for adverse drug reactions, and evolution of drug resistance. Rational use of medicines becomes even more important in developing countries such as India because of scarcity of financial resources and lesser affordability of the patients. Drug utilization research helps in enabling the rational use of drugs in populations.
Aims and Objective: To assess and evaluate the prescribing pattern of drugs among inpatients of orthopedic department and to assess the rationality in prescription of drugs.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out at Medical College Teaching Hospital, Mandya, Karnataka, India The inpatients case files of orthopedic wards from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 were retrieved from Medical Record Department. Data were collected regarding patientÂ’s demography, diagnosis, complete prescription, and adverse drug reactions if any, using a predesigned pro forma over a study frame period of 1 month. Data were analyzed for rationality and the WHO core prescription indicators.
Result: Of the 1,777 study subjects, 1,204 were male and 573 were female subjects. Majority of patients were in the age group of >60 years (35.28%). Fractures of long bones (62.63%) were the most common indication for admission, followed by compression fracture of vertebrae (2.75%) and nonunion (2.3%). Hypertension and diabetes were the most common associated comorbidity in majority of study population. Analgesics were the most commonly prescribed drug constituting about 31.81%, and, among analgesics, Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were most commonly prescribed than opioids. Next most commonly used drugs were antibiotics (22.24%), antihistamines (16.48%), and vitamins (4.24%). Average number of drugs per prescription was 5.30, and percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 61.90% and from essential drug list was 59.37%.
Conclusion: Analgesics and antibiotics were the most commonly prescribed drugs. Percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and from essential drug list is less and needs efforts to improve the situation.
Key words: Orthopedics; Fractures; WHO Prescription Indicators
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