Drug utilization study in department of obstetrics and gynecology at a tertiary care teaching hospital

Abstract Objective: To evaluate the trend of medication prescriptions in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Methods: A prospective observational study on drug utilization patterns was done in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at a tertiary care teaching hospital for 18 months. All inpatients and outpatients were included. After gaining informed consent, patients who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled. Medication orders were observed for prescription patterns. WHO Prescription indicators were used for analysis. Results: A total of 618 prescriptions were collected. A total of 2559 drugs were prescribed, which included 1159 (45.29%) minerals and vitamin supplements, 603 (23.57%) antibiotics, 334 (13.05%) autacoids, 318 (12.43%) gastrointestinal drugs, 100 (3.91%) drugs affecting blood, 28 (1.09%) endocrine drugs, and 17 (0.66%) cardiovascular drugs. The average number of drugs per prescription in this study (4.13) is higher than the standard set by WHO (1.6-1.8). The percentage of patients prescribed with injectables is 38.83%. This is also high when compared with the range of the standard set by WHO. Around 77% of drugs were prescribed from the WHO Essential Medicine List. Conclusion: The results of our study highlight several areas that need improvement; most importantly, polypharmacy was practiced as the average number of drugs (4.13) per prescription when compared with a standard set by WHO. Another area, that is, a percentage of drugs prescribed by injection is high, which also needs to be decreased. Vitamin B complex, vitamin C, pantoprazole, ferrous sulphate, and calcium were the most frequently prescribed drugs. The drug prescribed from the WHO Essential Medicine List was comparatively lower. So, it emphasises more on prescribing more drugs from the essential drug list to meet the standards of WHO. The overall drug use pattern is rational.