DRUG UTILIZATION STUDY IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Drug Utilization Evaluation (DUE) studies are designed to evaluate the appropriateness of drug usage on an ongoing prescription.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the management of patients presenting to the emergency department and the direct cost of therapy in the emergency medicine department of a tertiary care hospital in Hyderabad.

Materials and methods:  A cross–sectional study was for a period of 6 months.  All the necessary data was collected prospectively in that period of time. The prescriptions were analysed and the cost was calculated.

Results: The numbers of patients presented to ER were 200. All the 200 patients presenting to ER were above 18 years of age. Out of 200 patients 75 (37.5%) were female and 125 (62.5%) were male. Out of 200 Allergies were found in 4 (2%) patients. 4 (2%) were alcoholic, 2 (1%) were obese, and 2 (1%) smokers. Most of the patients presented with cardiovascular disease (58, 29%) and were treated accordingly. 111 (55.5%) patients have Hypertension as comorbidity 66 had DM (33%) and as follows. The maximum duration of the emergency department stay of a patient was 4 hours then the patients were either shifted to other respective departments based on condition. 3 (1.5%) deaths were seen. PPI’S was majorly administered to patients, followed by Antiemetic, Antibiotics, and IV fluids. Cost analysis was done most of the cost burden was seen on patients presenting with Cardiovascular disease. The rationality of prescriptions was evaluated using WHO Prescribing Indicators.

Conclusion: From our current study, PPI, Antiemetic and Antibiotic use, injection prescribing, and the number of drugs prescribed per encounter showed considerable deviation from the standards recommended by the WHO. Most of the drug cost was driven by the prescription of PPI, Antiemetic, and broad–spectrum Antibiotics, therefore the hospital pharmacy should be encouraged to procure more cost– effective alternative PPI, Antiemetic, and Antibiotics.

Key words: Emergency department, evaluate, Antibiotics, PPI, Antiemetic, Rational, Generic.