A STUDY ON PRESCRIBING PATTERN OF DRUGS AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN USING WHO PRESCRIBING INDICATORS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Yumna Parayakkal Zakir
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Bibi Amal Abdul Latheef
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Shilpa K
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Thangamani S
Department of Pharmacy Practice, Grace College of Pharmacy, Palakkad, Kerala, India
Dr. Nadira Banu
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBG), Karuna Medical College, Palakkad, Kerala, India

WHO core indicators ,Prescribing pattern ,Antibiotics ,

Pregnancy is special physiological condition where drug treatment presents a special concern. Prescribing patterns of the drug in the pregnant women are the serious events which can have harmful effects to mother as well as fetus if administered. To promote the rational drug use in developing countries, it is important to assess drug use pattern using World health Organization (WHO) drug use indicators. Aims & objectives: To study prescribing pattern of drugs among pregnant women using WHO prescribing indicators in a Tertiary care teaching hospital Methodology: The study was a prospective observational study conducted in the Karuna Medical College and Hospital, Chittur, Palakkad in the duration of six months (February 2021 to July 2021). A total of 261 cases were included from Inpatients/Outpatients attending the Gynecology and Obstetrics Department. Self-designed data entry form was used to collect data related to the patient’s demographics, medical history, medication history, gravida, trimesters, morbidities present and the medications prescribed. Result & Discussion: the average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 4.49 which was higher than the standard, the percentage of encounters in which antibiotic or injections was prescribed was 30.6% and 36.01% respectively the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was only 19.26% and the percentage of drugs prescribed from essential drug list was 70.54%. Conclusion: Although satisfactory results were obtained from WHO core indicators framing the safety of drug use during pregnancy, this study showed considerable deviation from the standard recommended by WHO. Drug use evaluation should be done to check whether the drugs are accurately prescribed or not

12 , 2 , 2022