Get started
Work

A Prospective, Observational Drug Utilization Study in the Dermatology Out-patient Department of a Government Hospital, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh

Year: 2024
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective: The data regarding drug utilization in dermatology departments of southern parts of India is limited. Recent studies on drug utilization in dermatology across India, reported high prescription of branded drugs, low adoption of essential drugs and polypharmacy. Hence, this study was conducted to analyze the drug utilization pattern for common skin diseases as per WHO prescribing indicators. Methods: This study was done in the Out-patient department (OPD) of dermatology at Government General Hospital (GGH), Nandyal, in collaboration with department of Pharmacology for a period of 4 mo and Institutional ethical committee (IEC) permission was taken before conducting the study. Results: A total number of 344 prescriptions were analyzed. Average number of drugs per prescription was 2.5 (including Fixed drug combination (FDC) drugs). Total number of drugs accounted to 860. Majority of prescriptions have 3 drugs per prescription (57.1%) and only 8.7% of prescriptions have more than 3 drugs per prescription. Analyzed data as per World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators indicate 74% of prescribed drugs were from National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), 2.5% were FDC drugs and 13.14% of the drugs prescribed were antibiotics. Polypharmacy was noted to be only 0.7% in the study. Conclusion: A periodic audit of prescriptions will reduce errors and motivate the health care professionals for rational drug use. Special consideration is to be given to extended public health initiatives to prevent skin infections because they account for about 70% of diseases in daily life.
DOI: 10.22159/ijcpr.2024v16i6.5087
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4404447574
FWCI: 0.228
Cites: 12
Cited by: 1
Related to: 10