Prospective and observational study of antimicrobial drug utilization in medical intensive care unit in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract

Objectives: 1) The objective of this study was to assess the prescribing patterns of anti-microbial drugs. 2) Rationality of drug use in the medical ICU of a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: After taking approval from the Institutional ethical committee, study was undertaken over a period of 6 months. A prospective observational study was conducted to assess the prescription pattern of antibiotic usage in the medical ICU. Standard Proforma was used to collect the information regarding antibiotics, its dose, duration, first line of antibiotics and second line of antibiotics and adverse drug reactions. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics with help of SPSS software. Results: Total 202 cases were admitted to the ICU during study period. Respiratory conditions (33.2%), febrile illness (15.3%), poisoning (15.3%) and CNS (12.9%) illnesses were commonly reported to ICU. Cephalosporins (81.7%) were commonly prescribed followed by Nitroimidazoles (30.2%) and Penicillin (16.3%). Ceftriaxone (43.1%) and cefixime (38.6%) were commonly used followed by Pipercillin + Tazobactum combination (9.4%). No adverse reactions were reported during the study period. Conclusion: In conclusion, a wide spectrum of clinical diagnoses and a variety of drugs were utilized from various drug classes. Results showed that Cephalosporins were extensively used in ICU. The number of drugs prescribed by generic names was low in the ICU and effort must be made to encourage prescribing by generic names. Rational usage of antimicrobial agents in ICU should be encouraged by following strict Hospital antimicrobial policy.