Drug utilization pattern of acute poisoning admissions in medicine intensive care unit

Abstract

Introduction: Acute poisoning is a very common & life threatening crisis and leads to serious conditions and even death of patients. Poisoning may be due to self consumption or accidental of various chemical compounds, medications and poisonous animals. The various drugs used in poisoning and there clinical outcome with different poisoning substances was investigated in this study Material and Methods: The patients which have been diagnosed with acute poisoning in Medical intensive care unit from January 2017 to July 2017 are included in this study. Results: During 7 months of study total 154 patients of acute poisoning were included in this study. Male patients were 111 (72%) while female patients were 43 (28%). Mean age of patients was 34.97 +14.46 years. The commonest cause of poisoning was by use of pesticides followed by venomous snake bite. Drugs prescribed to patients were mainly symptomatic like H2 blockers (99.3%), antiemetics (97.4%), and antimicrobials (90.2%). Specific antidotes prescribed were Atropine (92.8%), pralidoxime (79.8%) and anti-snake venom (17.5%) Conclusions:Organophosphorus compounds were the most common among poisons, followed by Snake bite. Gastroprotective and antiemetic drugs are most commonly prescribed drugs. Keywords: Poisoning, Drug utilization, Intensive care unit