Prescription Pattern in the Department of Surgery in A Tribal District Hospital of Andhra Pradesh, India

BACKGROUND Usually, surgical management cannot be completed without the use of antimicrobial and analgesic drugs. Irrational prescription may lead to severe postoperative complications. AIM The objective of this study was to evaluate the prescription trend in the surgery department of a tribal district hospital so as to determine the extent of rational use of medicines. MATERIALS AND METHODS It was a retrospective study in which 50 cases were selected randomly. Case records were analyzed for prescription trend. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and values were presented descriptively. RESULTS Most of the cases were between the age group of 21 and 40 years, 18 cases (36%). Commonest cause of hospitalization was renal calculi (10 (20%)) followed by acute abdomen and abscess (6, (12%)). Total of 255 numbers of drugs were used with an average of 5.1 drugs per patient. Most preferred route was intravenous route (174 drugs, 68.2%). Antimicrobial was the most common (97 (38.0%)) group of drugs followed by analgesic/antipyretics (50 (19.6%)). Among antimicrobials, ciprofloxacin (22 (22.7%)) was the most common drug followed by metronidazole (21 (18.5%)). All the cases were managed by empirical treatment. Two different antimicrobials were prescribed to 20 (40%) of cases. Dosage of 83 (32.6%) drugs was inappropriate while frequency was inappropriate in 26 (10.2%) cases. CONCLUSION Urgent steps like specific guidelines, training, and monitoring of drugs use are needed to correct some irrational approaches.