Drug prescribing pattern and disease pattern in KMC Duwakot Health Center

To ascertain the disease pattern and drug prescribing pattern of the patients attending Kathmandu Medical College Health Center, Duwakot.

It is a cross sectional study conducted at Kathmandu Medical College (KMC) health Center, Duwakot during the month of Ashad to Mangshir, 2060. The sample size included was 292 patients attending the Health Center during this period. Prescription details were used as study tools to acquire information regarding patient's name, age, complaints for which consultation was sought, investigations, diagnosis, name of the drug which is prescribed and instruction for diet.

Age of patients in this study ranged from 0-80 years. A total of 165 (56.50%) were male and 127 (43.49%) were female. Out of 165 male of different age group ranging from 0-80 years, most of the patient i.e. 25(15.15%) were suffering from viral fever followed by cut/injury, allergy, diarrhoea, abdomen pain, fungal infection, HTN (hypertension), cold/cough/sore throat, sinusitis, muscular skeletal pain, joint pain, contact dermatitis, acute peptic disease (APD), headache, worm infestation, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, dizziness, eye infection, chest infection, calf and backache, viral rashes, hypo pigmentation, tension/depression, Urinary tract infection (UTI), coliolilethis, diabetes, p/r bleeding and insect bite poisoning. Out of 127 female of different age group ranging from 0-80 years 21 (16.54%) patients were suffering from viral fever, followed by backache, cold/cough/sore throat, allergy, weakness, acne, diarrhoea, sinusitis, flue, pneumonia, headache, acid peptic disease, dysmenorrhoea, Lower Respiratory Tract Infection and Upper Respiratory Tract Infection, muscular skeletal pain, joint pain, eye infection, Urinary Tract Infection, hypertension, abdomen pain, tonsillitis, tinea corporis, rhinitis, ear problems, insect bite poisoning, CSOM, trichiasis, uteric colic, otitis media, entropion and epiphora, worm infestation and pharyngitis. All together 384 drugs (23 category) were distributed to the different patient of different age group ranging from 0-80 years, to cure the different types of diseases. Among the different categories of drugs prescribed antipyretic (31.8%), antibiotics (17.2%) and (Non steroid Antiinflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) (11.2%) were the most common.

The assessment of the existing prescribing practices in a health facility helps to identify the specific drug use problems, which need to be understood before any meaningful intervention can take place. A prescription provides an insight into a prescriber's attitude to the disease being treated and the nature of health care delivery system in the community. The average number of drugs per prescription is an important index of a prescription audit. It is preferable to keep the number of drugs per prescription as low as possible to minimize the risk of drug interactions, development of bacterial resistance and hospital costs.