Educating Rational Prescribing Practices in Primary Care

Abstract

Primary health care is the first level of contact between the community and the national health care delivery system for treating the commonly occurring illnesses. Appropriate treatment and the provision of essential drugs are the two vital components of the primary health care concept. Graduate medical education in India is oriented towards training of medical students to undertake the responsibilities of a primary health care physician. Clinical training for medical students often focuses on diagnostic, rather than therapeutic skills. They are not often taught how to prescribe a drug for their patient’s benefit properly. Bad prescribing habits lead to in-effective and unsafe treatment, exacerbation or prolongation of illness, distress and harm to the patient and higher costs. The requirements for rational use of drugs will be fulfilled if the process of prescribing is appropriately followed. In order to overcome this deficiency in our medical education, the medical students and the practicing primary health care physicians needs to be well trained in good prescribing practices. Hence this article is meant to highlight the importance of the step by step “Guide to Good Prescribing” to help the practicing physicians and medical students to learn the art of treating patients rationally both in the primary and secondary health care settings.