| RESEARCH PAPER |
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| Year : 1998 | Volume
: 30
| Issue : 6 | Page : 408-410 |
Auditing of prescriptions in a government teaching hospital and four retail medical stores in Pondicherry
Shewade G Deepak, Pradhan C Suresh
Correspondence Address:
Shewade G Deepak
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
Objective: To analyse the pattern of prescribing habits of doctors attached to a government teaching hospital and the general practitioners in Pondicherry.
Methods: Prescriptions from government teaching hospital (n=162) and retail medical stores (n=149) from general practitioners were collected at random over a period of two months and the data were analysed on the following parameters - a) total number of drugs prescribed, b) generic vs brand, c) total parenteral drugs prescribed, d) fixed dose combinations and e) most commonly prescribed drugs.
Results: Among the types of drugs used, antimicrobial agents were prescribed maximum in the government teaching hospital (26.9%) as well as by the general practitioners (23.7%). Analgesics, antiulcer drugs, vitamin preparations were the commonly prescribed agents by the general practitioners while topical medications, analgesics, antihistamines, and bronchodilators were the commonly prescribed drugs by the government doctors. General practitioners prescribed glucocorticoids, anabolic steroids, zinc with vitamins or vitamin E which were expensive, ineffective or may be harmful. lnjectables were also more frequently prescribed by them. Interestingly the prescriptions of government teaching hospital were more rational since the prescribers used fewer number of drugs in average and more frequently in their generic names.
Conclusion: This study may help to identify the problems involved in therapeutic decision making and improve the prescribing behaviour by planning for an interventional strategy.
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