Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract INTRODUCTION: The inappropriate use of drugs is a global health problem, especially in developing
country like India. Irrational prescriptions have an ill effect on health as well as health‑care expenditure.
Prescription auditing is an important tool to improve the quality of prescriptions, which in turn improves
the quality of health care provided. The present study was conducted to investigate the rational use of
drugs for completeness, legibility, and against the World Health Organization (WHO)‑recommended
core drug use indicators.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional, outpatient department‑based study was carried
out in a rural hospital of Delhi wherein 120 prescriptions were randomly sampled, irrespective of
patient characteristics and diagnosis over a period of 1 month. All the prescriptions were analyzed
for general details, medical components, and WHO core drug use indicators. The data obtained were
summed up and presented as descriptive statistics using the Microsoft Excel and were analyzed
using SPSS version 16.
RESULTS: All the prescriptions had general details mentioned in it. The diagnosis was mentioned
in 64.2% of prescriptions, and 85.8% of drugs were prescribed by generic name. An average of 3.02
drugs per encounter was prescribed. The average consultation time and dispensing time were 2.8 min
and 1.2 min, respectively. Only half of the patients had correct knowledge of dose.
CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the need to train our prescribing doctors on writing rational
prescriptions for quality improvement.

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Anesthesia has become one of the most advanced specialties in modern medicine
with tremendous growth in knowledge and substances available for use. However, public awareness
toward anesthesiologist and anesthesiology is limited. It is important for us to make people aware about
the role played by an anesthesiologist in medical setup. The present study was conducted among
patients and attendants to assess the knowledge regarding the anesthesiologist and anesthesiology.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out at a rural hospital of New Delhi, on 250
adult patients and attendants visiting outpatient departments to assess their knowledge regarding
anesthesiologists and anesthesiology. An interview in their local language with the help of a
prestructured questionnaire was carried out over a 3 month period. The participants on the basis of
their answers were classified as aware or unaware. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 17.
RESULTS: Most of the patients in our study were not aware of the role of anesthesiologists, their
role in OT and postoperative period, and about anesthesiology as a separate discipline. They were
aware of the general and regional anesthesia techniques. Only half of the participants had good
knowledge (55.6%), and it was significantly associated with age, sex, and education (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSION: There is ignorance among the general population regarding the role played by
anesthesiologists. We need newer initiatives for educating public and professionals for future progress.