. Tulika Singh; . Bratati Banerjee; . Suneela Garg; . Sanju Sharma
Volume 9, Issue 2 , February 2019, , Pages 1-5
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The inappropriate use of drugs is a global health problem, especially in developingcountry like India. Irrational prescriptions have an ill effect on health as well as ...
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INTRODUCTION: The inappropriate use of drugs is a global health problem, especially in developingcountry 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 improvesthe quality of health care provided. The present study was conducted to investigate the rational use ofdrugs for completeness, legibility, and against the World Health Organization (WHO)‑recommendedcore drug use indicators.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross‑sectional, outpatient department‑based study was carriedout in a rural hospital of Delhi wherein 120 prescriptions were randomly sampled, irrespective ofpatient characteristics and diagnosis over a period of 1 month. All the prescriptions were analyzedfor general details, medical components, and WHO core drug use indicators. The data obtained weresummed up and presented as descriptive statistics using the Microsoft Excel and were analyzedusing SPSS version 16.RESULTS: All the prescriptions had general details mentioned in it. The diagnosis was mentionedin 64.2% of prescriptions, and 85.8% of drugs were prescribed by generic name. An average of 3.02drugs per encounter was prescribed. The average consultation time and dispensing time were 2.8 minand 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 rationalprescriptions for quality improvement.
