National Journal of Community Medicine (Jul 2016)
Prescribing Paradigm in A Rural Hospital of West Bengal
Abstract
Background: Studying drug use pattern among medical practitioners is of vital importance due to use of irrational drugs. Objective: This observational descriptive cross sectional study was carried out to assess prescribing practice in the out-patient department of Block Rural Hospital of West Bengal. Methods: By systematic random sampling technique total 160 prescriptions from all the prescribing recommendations of the out-patient department of the block rural hospital were studied. The data were collected by scrutinizing individual prescription of the eligible participants using predesigned, pretested schedule study tool during the study period of two months. The prescriptions were analyzed in the context of correctness of components of instructions and adherence to WHO core prescribing indicators. Results: Overall, an average number of drugs per prescription were 3.01±0.02. Only 155(32.22%) out of the total 481 drugs were prescribed by generic names. Among prescriptions antibiotics were in 71.87 percent and injectable preparations in 11.87 percent; 91.06 percent drugs were prescribed from national list of Essential Medicines of India. In terms of correctness, content of the drugs prescribed, was unacceptable; adherence to WHO core prescribing indicators was poor. Conclusion: Our study revealed that we need to identify loopholes regarding practices to improve the standard of prescriptions.
