Drug utilization

Antibiotics are the most commonly prescribed drugs in hospitals. In developed countries, around 30% of the hospitalized patients are treated with antibiotics. Rational uses of drugs have attained more significance in present days in terms of medical, socio economical and legal aspects [1]. Pharmacists play a vital role in promoting the rational use of medicines. Medicines (drugs) cannot be used rationally unless all health care professionals involved in the pharmaceutical supply chain has access to know the complete information therapeutic indications of the drugs This study was carried out to collect patient’s relevant demographic information which includes Age, Sex, Occupation, Date of admission, Date of discharge, History of present illness, past medical history, Diagnosis and prescription drugs [2]. 1) The aim of the research is to study and to determine the prescribing patterns of antibiotics and use of antibiotic (Rational / Irrational) in a tertiary care hospital along with its beneficial and adverse outcomes. 2) Intervene strategies from pharmacist perspective to promote rational use of antibiotics to improve therapeutic outcomes in patients thereby improving quality of life (QOL) of patients [3]. The study was carried at Shadan Institute of Medical Sciences, Shadan Hospital, Hyderabad. Antibiotics are prescribed based on symptoms and laboratory investigations. Antibiotics are indicated for the treatment of bacteriologically proven infections and non-bacteriologically proven infections. It is a single centered, prospective observational study. Subjects of both genders who indicated with antibiotic therapy are taken into consideration and patients who had co morbid pathological conditions also included. Pediatrics, pregnant women and surgical cases were excluded from the study [4].175 patients were collected; 75 were male and 100 were female. Total numbers of antibiotics prescribed are 260. Median duration of hospitalization was 5 days. The most common prescribed antibiotics were Ceftriaxone, Ciprofloxacin, Azithromycin, Amoxicillin+Clavulanic acid, Amikacin & Doxycycline. On assessing the results of study, it was found that prescribed 260 antibiotics accounted for 100%, ceftriaxone indicated was 35% followed by ciprofloxacin was 10 % and azithromycin was 6%. Irrational prescriptions becoming a serious problem in the General medicine department. For the achievement of Rational use of antibiotic to treat infections caused by microorganisms, selection the appropriate antibiotic partly depends on symptoms suffered by the patients. Awareness programs should be launched and seminars should be conducted so as to minimize problems which are common at ward level [5]. News Letters and Drug bulletins about the rational use of antibiotics should be released periodically. Cost effective prescription should be encouraged. Formulation of a policy for hospital antibiotic use and educational programs especially for junior doctors also required.