A drug utilization study of psychotropic drugs in indoor patients of psychiatry department in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Context: The rapidly expanding field of psychopharmacology is challenging the traditional concepts of treatment and constantly seeking new drugs to treat psychiatric disorders. There is a sparse work on the utilization of psychotropic drugs in indoor patients. Hence, the present study was planned to add to the existing knowledge of the utilization of psychotropic drugs. Aims: The aims of were to study the drug utilization of psychotropic drugs in the indoor patients of psychiatry department and to evaluate it according to the World Health Organization core drug use prescribing indicators. Settings and Design: This was an observational study in indoor patients of psychiatry department in a medical college. Materials and Methods: In this study, patients of all age groups diagnosed with psychiatric disorder admitted to the psychiatry department were included. The data were collected from 300 prescriptions over 6 months. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: In 300 prescriptions, 61.98% were psychotropic drugs and average number of drugs per prescription was five. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and from the essential drug list was 52.93% and 60.9%, respectively. The most common diagnosis was schizophrenia (55.6%), followed by mood disorders (26.6%). The most commonly prescribed drugs for schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and depression were olanzapine (71.85%), sodium valproate (71.4%), and escitalopram (51.6%), respectively. Conclusion: Most of the drugs were used in accordance with standard guidelines given by the Indian Psychiatric Society. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic names and from the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) needs to be increased. Olanzapine, which is not included in NLEM, was commonly prescribed psychotropic drug