Prescribing Pattern of Analgesics in Hospitalized Patients in Surgical Unit at Nepalgunj Medical College and Teaching Hospital

• Published in: Journal of Karnali Academy of Health Sciences 2022-08, Vol.5 (2)
• Main Authors: Aswani Chaudhary, Deependra Prasad Sarraf, Arvind Kumar Gupta, Digbijay Bikram Khadka, Aakash Jayswal, Aarati Dhakal, Balaram KC
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analgesics, Cholelithiasis, Ketorolac, postoperative pain
• ISSN: 2616-0064; 2676-1327

Background: Drug utilization study plays an important role in promotion of rational use of medicines. Pain a multidimensional experience, personalized to each patient. Appropriate use of analgesics in postoperative pain can alleviate the suffering of the patients and also has significant social and economic benefits. Objective was to find out the pattern of analgesic utilization in hospitalized patients in the surgical ward. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted among the hospitalized patients in the surgery ward for two months using a self-designed proforma. The case record form of the patients were reviewed and the relevant data were collected. Descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, percentage and standard deviation were calculated. Average number of analgesics per patient, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, percentage of encounters with an injection prescribed and percentage of drugs prescribed from the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) were also calculated using Statistical Package for Social Science version 22.0. Results:  Out 160 patients, (56.25%) were females. Mean age (±SD) of the patient was 43.32 ± 16.3 years. Cholelithiasis (53.13%) was the most common diagnosis followed by inguinal hernia (12, 7.5%). Average number of analgesics per patient was 2.4. Sixty six (41.25%) patients were prescribed two types of analgesics. Ketorolac (39.32%) was the most common prescribed analgesic drug followed by Etoricoxib (36.46%). About 61.72% of the analgesics were prescribed in the injection form and 7.29% analgesics were from the NLEM.