Study of Prescription Patterns of Fixed Dose Combinations Prescribed by Medical Interns

Abstract

Introduction: Illogical habits of prescribing irrational drug combinations have been deteriorating the health of the various communities. There are several benefits of fixed dose combinations (FDCs) but prescribing irrational combinations may be responsible for inadequate or incorrect treatment of patients even after correct diagnosis. The interns will constitute the major portion of the health care providers in our country in near future and irrational practices of prescribing FDCs among them will deteriorate the condition further in future. There is lack of research among these budding doctors will result in ineffective policy regarding teaching and training. Objectives: 1. To study the prescription trends. 2. To study the various prescription patterns of FDCs. 3. To find out the rationality of FDCs in a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: Prescription audit study to study the trends, patterns and rationality of prescriptions made by a batch of 92 Interns posted in various departments in a tertiary care teaching hospital, Bareilly, UP, India. The prescriptions by the 52 interns during two months of their posting were analyzed using R Studio and Policy guidelines-2013, for approval of fixed dose combinations in India. Results: Out of total 994, 64.29% prescriptions contained any kind of fixed dose combinations. The maximum FDCs (27.34%) belonged to antimicrobial class. Only 13.31% FDCs were rational. Ninety five percent FDCs were prescribed by the brand names. Conclusion: The prescription habits of one batch of interns of a teaching hospital are ringing alarm bell to develop effective training program to them and develop a national policy regarding FDCs.