Prescription pattern study of the drugs used in emergency department in a teaching hospital

Abstract

Background: The emergency department is a place where patients require immediate treatment and care. It is the specialty that cares for patients at risk. Doctors face challenges in rationalizing, choosing, and initiating appropriate drug therapy for patients admitted to emergency medicine. They also encounter problems with medication errors and adverse drug events. Hence, a prescription-based survey is one of the most effective methods for analyzing the prescribing patterns of drugs and the prescribing behavior of physicians. The core drug use indicators developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) are more informative and feasible. These include prescribing, patient care, and health facility indicators. Aims and Objectives: (i) The aim of this study was to study, assess, and evaluate the rationality of prescription pattern in emergency department in a particular region and (ii) to understand whether prescription pattern is in accordance with the WHO core prescribing indicators or not? Materials and Methods: Details regarding the age and gender of the patient, the reason for admission, diagnosis made, treatment given, the number of drugs per prescription, drugs prescribed by generic name, drugs prescribed from the essential drug list, dosage, refills, and dosage forms were collected. The rationality of the prescriptions was assessed and evaluated using these indicators. Results: In the present study, the average number of drugs per prescription was 4.6, injections were prescribed in 84.8%, antibiotics in 43.2%, and the generic name was mentioned in 50.8%. In addition, 72.8% of the drugs were prescribed from the essential drug list. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used. The Student’s t-test was employed to compare inter-group variation for continuous variables. The Chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. Conclusion: Among the study population, approximately three-fourths belonged to the age group of 20–60 years, and two-thirds were males. The majority of patients came due to injuries, including road traffic accidents, followed by respiratory illnesses (26.4%) and gastrointestinal ailments (15.6%). Among the prescriptions studied, all had the drug name legibly written, 93.3% had the dose mentioned, and 86.5% had the frequency mentioned. The most common route of administration was parenteral (76.6%), followed by oral (19.3%). In the present study, the average number of drugs per prescription was 4.6, injections were prescribed in 84.8%, antibiotics in 43.2%, and the generic name was mentioned in 50.8%.