Exploring Drug Prescription Patterns in the Neurology Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Comprehensive Analysis

Abstract

Objective: Neurological disorders are a major cause of morbidity, mortality and disability. These adversely affect the quality of life among all age group patients. Majority of neurological disorders include Epilepsy, Headache, Cerebrovascular disorders with hemiparesis, Neuropathic pain, Extrapyramidal syndrome, Cervical myelopathy and Parkinson’s disease. This study was done with aim to evaluate the prescription pattern of various drugs in different types of neurological disorders and to use the WHO / INRUD prescribing indicators to assess the rational drug prescribing.
 Materials and Methods: A Prescription-based, Observational prospective study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital at South India. The prescription data of patients attending the neurology outpatient department was analysed over a period of 2 months. Rational use of drugs was analysed by the INRUD Scale.
 Results: Out of these, 166 patients were male, whereas 134 patients were female. Most prevalent neurological disorders were Trigeminal neuralgia (25.66%), 9.97% of the patient population received injections, with 4% receiving Inj. Dexamethasone 8mg. Overall drug prescribing performance scoring was 3.55.
 Conclusion: Our study revealed good Prescribing pattern as shown by WHO scale- IRUD/INRUD. Further such studies with large sample size are needed so as to guide clinicians toward rationale drug.
 Keywords: Neurological; International Network of Rational Use of Drugs; Drug Utilisation, Rational Use.