Affiliations: Department of Pharmacy Practice, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, S.A.S. Nagar, Punjab, India
Note: [] Corresponding author: Dr. P. Tiwari, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Sector 67, SAS Nagar – 160 062, Punjab, India. Tel.: +91 172 221 4682 86, extn. 2135; Fax: +91 172 221 4692; E-mail: ptiwari@niper.ac.in.
Abstract: A retrospective analysis of the 110 prescriptions was carried out to investigate the prescribing pattern of drugs among the hospitalized elderly patients at a public tertiary care teaching hospital. The patients received an average (±SEM) of 8±0.21 medications per encounter. Nearly three quarters (73%) of the patients received more than five, about a quarter (23%) of the patients received more than nine medications and only 4% of patients received less than five medications concurrently on a particular day. During the hospital stay, 88.2% of patients received antibiotics and 86.4% of patients were prescribed injections. Of all the admitted patients, 41% received 1–2 antibiotics and 47% of patients received more than two antibiotics. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was only 18%, while 68.8% of these drugs were listed on the National Essential Medicine List. The three most commonly prescribed drug categories were antibiotics followed by the drugs acting on the cardiovascular system and oral hypoglycemic agents. The five most frequent disorders among elderly were Circulatory system disorders, Endocrine disorders, Digestive system disorder and Genitourinary system disorders. The results indicate that the prescribing of drugs to the elderly requires rationalization, particularly prescribing of antibiotics, injections and the prescribing by generic names. These are achievable and can be achieved through orienting the prescribers to the principles of pharmacotherapy in geriatric patients.
Keywords: Elderly, prescribing pattern, drug utilization review, polypharmacy
