PATTERN OF PRESCRIPTIONS IN COMMUNITY PHARMACIES – A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Medication error is a worldwide public health issue which most commonly arises due to prescription errors. Objective of this study was to conduct a retrospective cross-sectional study of prescription patterns in community pharmacies in random regions of the states Maharashtra and Bihar. This study involved analysis of prescription error, disease condition and use of essential medicines for about 1500 prescriptions. The prescribing trend was also studied on the basis of drug categories. During prescription analysis, it was observed that in 36 % of prescription patient weight was not reported, whereas around 15 %, 25 % and 24 % prescription were found to be without inclusion of patient name, age and sex respectively. The data was compared with the WHO model National Essential Medicine List 2019, 21th edition, only 38 % drugs were prescribed according to this list. The data analysis revealed prescription errors that may frequently occur leads to medication error. Basic guidelines need to be followed for prescription writing and selection of medicines which will improve the quality of the healthcare system. Although this study has the limitation in terms of accuracy to make conclusions because of limited sample size and which can be further extended in a large population, it gives overview or the idea about pattern of prescriptions which may sometimes lead to dispensing errors or severe effects.