A Prospective Study on Drug Audit, Prescribing Patterns Assessment, and Clinical Outcomes Evaluation in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Tamil Nadu, India

Background: Research studies on drug utilization in inpatient settings serve as valuable tools for assessing drug prescribing trends, efficiency, and the cost-effectiveness of hospital formularies. Our current study focuses on evaluating drug usage patterns, conducting drug audits, and assessing clinical outcomes using WHO indicators in healthcare facilities within tertiary care hospitals. Materials and Methods: In a prospective study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu, data were systematically gathered from 800 prescriptions spanning from November 2021 to April 2023. The WHO data collection tool was employed to evaluate prescribing indicators. Patients who either passed away or requested discharge against medical advice within the first 24 hr of admission were excluded from the dataset. The data analysis was carried out using Graph Pad Prism version 10. Results: The average number of drugs per encounter was 2.14. Antibiotics were prescribed in 71% of encounters, while injections were administered in 52%. A total of 80% of drugs were prescribed using generic names in the tertiary care hospital. Regarding hospital stays, 27% of individuals were admitted within three days of treatment, and individuals aged 21 to 40 accounted for more than 35% of the total hospital stays. Conclusion: The study demonstrated that cefotaxime was the most frequently prescribed antibiotic. The average number of drugs in this study was slightly over WHO standards. This research motivates clinicians to increase the use of generic drugs, may reduce the expenditures in health care without affecting the efficacy of the drug, and guide more clinicians towards prescribing generic drugs. However, injectable drugs are more prescribed when compared to other formulations. Further, we recommend studies that need more sample sizes and multicentre studies to estimate the overall prescribing practices of orthopedic ward.