Prescribing pattern among out patients of department of obstetrics and gynaecology in a tertiary care hospital

Drugs used in pregnancy are one of the top-selling drugs in India. However, there are only minimal studies conducted to evaluate the utilization of such drugs. Thus the present study was undertaken to analyze drug usage pattern and to identify potential drug-drug interactions in the prescriptions of the out-patient department of OBG in a tertiary care hospital. To analyze the drug usage pattern among the outpatients of the OBG department in a tertiary care hospital. A prospective observational study was conducted for a period of six months. During the study period, a total of 200 prescriptions were analyzed. Details including patient demographics and medications prescribed were noted in the specially designed data collection form. From the prescriptions, the potential drug-drug interactions were identified by using Micromedex software. A total of 200 prescriptions were analyzed. The mean age of patients was 26.13 ± 5.74 years. Most of the pregnant women in the 1st and 2nd trimester were found to be in the age group of 25-31 years. The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was found to be 1.58. Iron and folic acid preparation was found to be the highest prescribed medication 153 (48.26%). Out of 200 prescriptions analyzed, 197 (98.5%) had no significant drug-drug interactions present while 3(1.5%) prescriptions had one drug-drug interaction each. The prescribing pattern observed in the current study can be considered as a good example to educate healthcare professionals on the importance of rational use of drugs during pregnancy. © 2020 Plant Archives. All rights reserved.