Potential Drug Interactions in Medical Prescriptions of Hospitalised Pediatric Patients

Paediatric patients require special consideration from health professionals in terms of drug interactions, as they react to drugs differently from adults. To provide better treatment by screening potential drug interactions, to Minimise the unnecessary use of non prescription medications by providing counselling. A prospective observational study was conducted in paediatric patients of a government general hospital. The study included patients between 0 and 12 years old, containing three or more drugs excluding topical drugs in their prescriptions. The analysis of interactions in prescribed drugs was done using Micromedex program. Based on the interactions found an analysis was performed on their relevance to the patients current situation, and after that, the medical teams were informed using the criterion service form of the pharmaceutical unit of the hospital. A total of 150 patients were included and 450 drugs were analyzed in the study. A mean value of 3 drugs per patient was observed during the study. In total, 216 drug interactions were found, which corresponds to 2.08 interactions per prescription. Among them, Ampicillin and Gentamicin was found in 65 prescriptions. Mild drug interactions are more but these are potential interactions. The presence of drug interactions is major risk in hospitalized patients. This study highlights the need for screening prescriptions for potential drug-drug interactions by utilization of computer programs, the pharmacist presence in the multidisciplinary team to minimize the occurrence of possible adverse drug reactions.