Abstract

CURRENT SCENARIO OF COMMON DISEASES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT USING WHO DRUG USE INDICATORS IN PAEDIATRIC OUTDOOR PATIENTS IN JAIPUR

Dr. Alka Bansal*, Dr. Charu Jain, Dr. Uma Advani, Dr. Neha Sharma, Dr. Shivankan Kakkar, Dr. Lokendra Sharma, Dr. Monica Jain

Abstract

Introduction and Objective: The assessment of drug utilization is important for clinical, educational and economic purpose. The present study evaluated prescriptions using WHO core drug indicators in the paediatric outdoor patient department. Material and Methods- It was a prospective, observational study carried out in a .private set up of Jaipur. Total 600 prescriptions were randomly selected over a period of three months and were analysed using the standard WHO-Drug Use Indicators (DUI). Results: The present study observed that the maximum patients were between one to five years of age with male predominance. Respiratory diseases were most common. Commonly used drugs were antipyretics followed by antibiotics, bronchodilators, antiemetics, antitussives and probiotics. Average number of drugs/encounter were 2.15 with 18.8% of antibiotics / encounter. Only 2.4% drugs were prescribed by generic name and 96.5% drugs were selected from EDL. Amongst the antibiotics penicillins, macrolides and cephalosporins were prescribed. 0.9% drugs were used by injectable route. The average consultation time and dispensing time were 8 minutes and 7 minutes respectively. 86.5% drugs were actually dispensed. All the drugs were adequately labelled and78% patients had knowledge of correct doses. It cost average 210 INR in prescriptions with antibiotics and average 102.INR in those without antibiotics. Conclusion: The present study finds that the major drug core indicators are close to the standards set by WHO in private set up. However there is scope to increase the use of generic drugs and patients knowledge about drugs.

Keywords: Paediatric population, Outdoor patients, WHO prescribing indicators.