Abstract
Introduction: Skin diseases are the major contributors of disease burden in society. Dermatological therapy ultimate goal is achieved by administering the safest and least number of drugs. The problem gets compounded with the inappropriate and irrational use of medicines. Therefore, periodic prescription audit in the form of prescribing patterns is away to improve irrational prescription. The objective of this study to assess the prescription patterns of dermatological agents in Borumeda hospital. Method: Hospital based retrospective cross sectional study in which prescribing patterns of dermatological agents are assessed. A total of 385 samples of patient record prescription from November/1/2016 to December/30/2016, and the sample were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Sample prescriptions were reviewed using structural data collection format. The Collected data was analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Result: Regarding rout of administration, the maximum number of drugs was prescribed topically (66.2%). Topical steroids were the most commonly prescribed drugs (25.3%). Use of generic prescribing in single drug prescribing was 81.7%. The prevalence of atopic dermatitis was higher (26.3%, 20.8%) in both male and female respectively followed by scabies in male with 12.2% and Acne vulgaris (12.9%) in female. Number of drugs per prescription was higher (2.46) than WHO standard (<2). Conclusion: The current study reveals that topical corticosteroids were commonly prescribed drugs in the dermatology unit and the prescribing practice imitates incidence of polypharmacy.
Highlights
Skin diseases are the major contributors of disease burden in society
The current study reveals that topical corticosteroids were commonly prescribed drugs in the dermatology unit and the prescribing practice imitates incidence of polypharmacy
This study showed that atopic dermatitis (26.3%) and (20.8%) was the most common dermatological condition in the dermatology unit in both male and female respectively, Followed by scabies (12.2%) in male and acne vulgaris (12.9%) in female. different findings were reported from study carried out in India the study showed fungal disease was the most common [9]
Summary
Skin disease refers to disorders exclusively of the superficial layers of the skin. The commonest skin disorders seen in developing countries are psoriasis and scabies, but they have not been regarded as a significant problem that could benefit from public health measures. Improved quality of life by enhancing standards of medical treatment at all levels of the health care delivery system. Prescribing patterns studies are useful to monitor evaluate and suggest modifications in prescribers, prescribing habits so as to make medical care rational and cost effective. Such analysis improves the standards of medical treatment at all levels in the health system, and supports in the identification of drug use related problems such as, drug-drug interaction, poly-pharmacy and adverse drug reaction [3] [4]. The patterns of drug use in a hospital setting need to be monitored intermittently in order to analyze their rationality and increase the therapeutic benefits and reduce adverse effect [5]
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