Clinical points of intravenous pantoprazole consumption in Cardiac ICU

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are the most common medicine for the treatment and prophylaxis of acid peptic conditions. The inappropriate use of the PPIs mainly intravenous form of Pantoprazole may lead to excessive cost and unexpected adverse effect. The purpose of our study was to evaluation the use of intravenous Pantoprazole in international heart center in north of Iran. Methods: The study was carried out as retrospective in 215 patients hospitalized in Fatemeh Zahra Hospital in sari. Patientschr(chr('39')39chr('39')) demographics, type and doses of Pantoprazole, and other relevant clinical data were recorded from their documentation. Appropriate use of Pantoprazole was evaluated according to recommendations provided by Medscape 2020, and UpToDate 2020. Results: The prescription of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) was appropriate for 53.5% of patients; however, the majority of intravenous prescription was inappropriate (76.7%). Oral PPIs could have been used in 93.5% of the cases but they received parenteral form of Pantoprazole. The main cause of Pantoprazole prescription in our hospital was stress ulcer prophylaxis, with the median 4/18 days used, which internal specialist in most of the cases (45.6%) prescribed. Conclusions: In current study, administration of IV Pantoprazole was not appropriate in most of the cases. As a result of this improper administration, a lot of cost enters the health system and is likely to be unsafe for patient. Accordingly, risk and indication evaluation for prescription of Pantoprazole in each patient should be a priority. Finally, it seems necessary to determine protocol for PPIs prescription in each hospital for the rational use of drugs.