Drug Prescribing Pattern in Surgical Wards of a Teaching Hospital in North India

Drug Prescribing Pattern in Surgical Wards of a Teaching Hospital in North India

Author(s): Salman MT, Akram MF, Rahman S, Khan FA, Haseen MA, Khan SW
Indian Journal for the Practising Doctor. Vol. 5, No. 2 (2008-05 - 2008-06)

ISSN : 0973-516X
Dr MT Salman, Dr SZ Rahman and Dr FA Khan are from the Department of Pharmacology; and Dr MA Haseen and Dr SW Khan from the Department of Surgery, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India – 202002.

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Abstract
Irrational use of medicines is widespread throughout the world. The main problems include the unnecessary prescription of drugs, particularly antimicrobials and injections. To investigate the situation in surgery wards, the present study was undertaken. Ninety six prescriptions were collected prospectively from post-operative patients admitted in surgery wards of the JN Medical College Hospital, AMU, Aligarh, and subjected for analysis according to the WHO/INRUD Indicators. VEN method was also applied to ascertain quality of drug procurement. It was revealed that the proportion of drugs from Essential Medicines List (EML) was 61.4%, while no drug was prescribed by generic name. Groups of drugs most commonly prescribed by general surgeons were antibiotics (93%), analgesics (60%), antacids (43%) and antiemetics (10%). The most extensively prescribed drugs from each of the above groups were injections Ceftriaxone and Amikacin, tablets Voveron, Pantoprazole and Metoclopromide, respectively. The average number of drugs prescribed per patient and cost per day per prescription was 4.8 and 246.1 INR, respectively. Average number of antibiotics prescribed per prescription was 2.2 and the average number of injections per prescriptions was 2.3. The results showed that the pattern of drug prescribing is not based on WHO criteria for rational use of drugs. The system is not at all evidence-based. It is thus necessary to make surgeons aware about good prescribing habit by following 5 steps of the WHO Program on Rational use of Drugs (RUD).

New Antimicrobial against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

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MRSA), a growing public health concern in both hospital and community settings.ZEFTERA is specially designed to tightly bind to and inhibit targets in both gram-positive (including MRSA) and gram-negative bacteria. The approval of ZEFTERA for the treatment of complicated skin and skin structure infections, including non-limb threatening diabetic foot infections without concomitant osteomyelitis, was based on results of two Phase III, double-blind, randomized, multi-centre, global trials involving 817 patients with cSSSI 2,3. The second Phase III trial included patients with non-limb threatening diabetic foot infections (mild, moderate or severe)3. Pathogens identified at baseline in this subpopulation included MSSA (38 per cent), MRSA (13 per cent), E. cloacae (9 per cent), and P. mirabilis (7 per cent). The results demonstrated the non-inferiority of ceftobiprole versus vancomycin plus ceftazidime in the treatment of diabetic foot infections. In both studies, ZEFTERA was well tolerated. The most common treatment-emergent adverse reactions were nausea (9 per cent) taste disturbance (6 per cent), diarrhea (5 per cent) and vomiting (5 per cent).