Prescription pattern of analgesics in orthopaedics OPD at a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Objective: To study the prescription pattern of analgesics in Orthopaedics OPD at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Medical College and to correlate the use of selective COX-2 inhibitors, old conventional NSAIDS and opioid analgesics in practice in the present scenario. The study is performed for better understanding of analgesics prescribing pattern in orthopaedics. Materials and Methods: The prescriptions from the outpatient department of Orthopaedics at Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Medical College are reviewed between June 2013 to November 2013, entered in a pre-designed proforma. Pain will be quantified using numeric rating scale. The type of analgesics administered, whether monotherapy of combined therapy and the duration of therapy, was analysed to obtain an overview of the current prescribing pattern. Results: A total of 300 prescriptions were analysed. 800 drugs were prescribed with an average of 2.6 drugs per prescription. Of these 62.3% were NSAIDS, 15.4% were opioid analgesics and 22.3% were gastroprotective agents. 61% pf the NSAIDS were prescribed as monotherapy and 39% were prescribed as FDC. The ratio of selective to non-selective NSAIDS is 1.3:1. Conclusions: The results of the present study shows frequent use of selective COX-2 inhibitors, although non-selective NSAIDS topped the list of various selective NSAIDS, non-selective NSAIDS and opioid analgesics. This suggests that GI safety was an important concern while prescribing these drugs. Many fixed drug comibations were found to be irrational.