Prescribing practices in psychiatry outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital of Southern Rajasthan, India

Abstract

Introduction: Drug utilization studies can identify the problems and provide feedback to prescribers so as to create awareness about irrational use of drugs. This study was conducted to find out the prescribing pattern in out-patient department (OPD) of Psychiatry. Materials and Methods:This prospective observational study was carried out in a tertiary care teaching hospital of southern Rajasthan. The data was collected in a case record form from patients of all age irrespective of gender who attended the psychiatry OPD. Assessment of prescription patterns was done as per the selected WHO-INRUD (World Health Organization-Indicators for rational use of drugs) drug use indicators. Results:Depression (34%) was the most common diagnosis followed by schizophrenia (13.5%) and bipolar affective disorder (12%). Overall predominance of psychiatric disorders was found between 36-40 years age group with 20 male and 16 female patients. Mean age of depression patients was found 41.35 years and 37.07 for schizophrenia patients. Escitalopram (18.27%) was the maximally prescribed drug followed by Clonazepam (10.44%), Olanzapine (9.13%), Amitryptaline (7.83%). The average drug per prescription was 1.915 out of the total 383 drugs. 7.30% drugs were included in WHO Model list/National list of Essential Medicine. 0.78% drugs were prescribed by generic name. Not a single drug was given by injectable form and no antibiotic was prescribed to any patient. Conclusion:Escitalopram was the most commonly prescribed drug as depression was found most common disorder. Drugs were less prescribed by generic names and less percentage of essential drugs in prescriptions but there was no polypharmacy in our study. Keywords: Drug utilization studies, WHO-INRUD, Depression, Polypharmacy, Essential medicines