CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF PRESCRIPTION PATTERN BY WHO PRESCRIBING INDICATORS IN OUTDOOR PATIENTS ATTENDING INTERNAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT AT TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL IN NORTH INDIA
Satish Kanwar*
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Irrational prescriptions by healthcare professionals is a worldwide concern, as it affects patient safety. It unnecessarily increases financially burden on the patient by wastage of essential resources. Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the prescription pattern in outdoor patients of internal medicine department using WHO core prescribing indicators. Material and Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted at Internal Medicine department in PGIMER, Chandigarh. About 717 prescription forms of outpatients from January 2019 to May 2019 were analysed for WHO core prescribing factors. Results: Total of 1988 drugs were prescribed in the 717 prescriptions included in the study. The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 2.77. Drugs prescribed by generic names were 14.59%. The most common category of drugs prescribed was multivitamins (20.97%) out of total number of drugs. Drugs prescribed from essential drug list and fixed dose combinations was 11.11% and 0.6% respectively. The most common route of drug administration was oral (92.2%). Conclusion: Majority of drugs were prescribed by brand names and prescription from National essential drug list was low. This was not adequate to meet the ideal values of WHO core prescribing indicators. There is need to improve awareness among doctors about prevalent government policies on generic drugs and rational prescription. This can make essential drugs more cost effective to the public and improve quality of healthcare services.
Keywords: Prescribing indicators, generic drugs, essential drug list, World Health Organization.
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