A study on Utilization of antibiotics in Paediatric In – patient department of SVRR Government general hospital, Tirupathi

Antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed drugs in paediatrics and can be a biggest threat of growing   resistance in children. It is always preferable to choose a single drug with a narrowest spectrum effective for pathogen. Combination antibiotic therapy may provide synergistic effect but there is a chance of getting drug resistance particularly in paediatrics. Paediatrics, a specialized population is at a significant risk for drug related problems in particular when they exposed to multiple drug therapy and complex illness. Monitoring and control of antibiotic usage and detailed knowledge of antibiotic prescribing practice is important now-a-days. The aim of our study was to analyse the Utilization of antibiotics in paediatric department of Sri Venkata Ramnaraine Ruia Government General Hospital (SVRRGGH), Tirupathi. A Prospective observational study was carried out for 3 months using patient data collection proforma and clinical significance of 120 individual cases were recorded.  The data were analysed by descriptive statistics. The utilization of antibiotics in emergency ward, general ward and ICU were observed. More number of prescriptions was observed in the emergency ward (53.33 %).  Most of the paediatric patients receiving parenteral preparations (81.8 %) and 55.62 % of prescriptions were based on empirical therapy. In our study 66.66 % of paediatric patients were on single antibiotic. Cephalosporins (42.2 %) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics in three departments followed by Pencillins (22.7 %) and least prescribed group was Fluroquinolones (2.13 %). This information was helpful to analyse the clinical judgment on selection of antibiotics in paediatrics of SVRRGGH.