Abstract

Deeksha shetty, A.Vikneswari*, Gayathri.S, Joyel Manjila

ABSTRACT

Background: Geriatric population is raising throughout the world, so the quality and the safety of prescribing medication in the geriatrics population is a global health care concern. It is compulsory for the health care professionals to be aware of the limitations of prescribing certain drugs to the elderly. This present study is an attempt to shed a light on the utilization of prescription pattern among geriatrics and enhance the knowledge regarding the clinical profile and medicines prescribed in geriatrics. Methodology: It is a Retrospective cross-sectional study including 200 geriatrics inpatients admitted to medicine wards was conducted for a period of 6 months. Relevant details were collected from case files of the patients and entered into a predesigned pro forma and data were analyzed. Results: Majority of the patients were between the ages of 65 and 74 years (72.77%). There was female preponderance (57.7%). Antibiotics were the most commonly prescribed drug (17.66%) followed by anti-inflammatory and analgesics(14.40%),drugs acting on gastrointestinal system (9.32%), drugs acting on respiratory system (8.6%). Ceftriaxone was the most frequently prescribed drug followed by Ranitidine and Paracetamol. Average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 6.13. Diclofenac was found to be the most prescribed inappropriate medication (11.11%) followed by Pantoprazole (10.55).In our study the major drug interactions were found to be (12.77%) and overdosed prescriptions were found to be (1.11%). Conclusion: Drug prescribing data can help in assessing the quality of care given to patients; promote rational use of medicines by helping to improve prescribing patterns.