Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Abstract

Introduction: Drug use pattern is the study of drugs prescribed by physicians. The WHO prescribing indicators provide a tool for the study of drug use. These are helpful in promoting rational use of drugs. These core prescribing indicators are highly standardized, reliable and well accepted to assess the drug use patterns at health care setups.Objective: To assess the prescriptions of dermatology out-patients for the drug use patterns by using WHO prescribing indicators.Method: A hospital based prospective observational study was carried out by enrolling dermatology out-patients considering the study criteria. The prescriptions of them were analyzed for the drug use patterns by using WHO prescribing indicators.Results: During the study, 228 prescriptions of 121 (53.07%) males and 107 (46.93%) females were analyzed.A total of 706 drugs prescribed with an average of 3.096 drugs per prescription.The maximum number of patients (72.87%) were in the age group of adults (19 to 60 years) and minimum (0.88%.) were infants (1month-1 yrs). Most of them were having Acne problems (15.36%), followed by Eczema (9.65). Antibiotics were highly prescribed class of drugs (36.27%), followed by antihistamines (22.95%) and multivitamins. Among antihistamines, Levocetrizine was most commonly prescribed.Conclusion: The study reveals that, the prescriptions with generic names are very low. Hence prescribers should be motivated to prescribe the drugs by generic name, which reduces the cost of the therapy. The prescription with non National List of Essential Medicines were more, the prescriber should be motivated to prescribe from this list. In a nutshell there is an over use of antibiotics at the study site. The overuse of antibiotics is a major global concern as it leads to the antibiotic resistance and it also increases the cost of the therapy. Hence it needs to be addressed carefully by educating the prescribers regarding rational use of antibiotics and also there is a need to developantibiotic prescribing guidelines at the study site.