DRUG UTILIZATION STUDY IN THE OUTPATIENT PEDIATRIC DEPARTMENT OF A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL OF DISTRICT LUCKNOW
Abstract
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Objective: Irrational prescribing of drugs in pediatric age group is very common. In order to be rational, the drug therapy should be safe, efficacious,
affordable & need based. Drug utilization studies are useful tool to facilitate rational prescribing of drugs. The present study was designed with the
aim to assess prescribing trends in the pediatric department of a tertiary care teaching hospital.
Methods: The drug utilization pattern was carried out in the pediatric outpatient department of career institute of medical sciences, Lucknow. The
study period was September 2014 to February 2015 (six months). A prospective study was carried out on the prescriptions, selected randomly with a
total of 249 prescriptions. The data obtained were analyzed by MS-excel software. The results were expressed as percentage or proportion.
Results: Majority of the pediatric patients (40.12%) were suffering from acute respiratory infections (ARI) followed by diarrhea (18.66%). A total of
922 drugs were prescribed to the total of 249 patients. 63.11% of drugs were antibiotics, whereas the NSAIDS were15.65%. Average number of drugs
per prescription was 3.7. Paracetamol was the most common drug prescribed followed by cefixime. Antibiotics were prescribed without investigation
on empirical basis with an average of 2.11 per prescription. Cefixime was the leading antibiotic prescribed followed by cefpodoxim. Among the
parenteral antibiotics, ceftriaxone followed by cefotaxim was prescribed in highest number of patients. Orally administered drugs contributed the
highest proportion of drugs prescribed with 78.16% of total drugs. Parenteral drug preparations were 14.99%. Combinations of antibiotics were
prescribed to 65.66% of patients of which ceftriaxone with sulbactam was at the top (35.10%) followed by amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid (25.33%)
Conclusion: Our study highlighted some of the common prescribing trends in the hospital. These trends were polypharmacy, higher rate of antibiotic
prescribing & prescribing by brand names. The study highlighted some rational prescribing practices in the hospital like less use of injectable, cost
effectiveness of drug therapy & no use of banned drugs.
Keywords: Drug utilization study, Pediatric patients, prescribing trends
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References
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