Assessment of prescription writing practices in a government tertiary care hospital in Haryana by using WHO prescribing indicators

Background: Writing a prescription is a combination of science and art. Good quality prescriptions are a sign of prescriber’s expertise. World Health Organization has defined certain parameters to promote rational drug use in all countries. This study was designed to assess the prescription writing practices in a government tertiary care hospital in Haryana by using WHO prescribing indicators.Methods: A total of 2155 prescriptions were evaluated. Each prescription was evaluated for average number of drugs prescribed per patient per encounter, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name, percentage of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed, percentage of encounters with an injection prescribed and percentage of medicines from Essential drug list prescribed. These indicators help us to check polypharmacy, practice of prescribing drugs by brand names, antibiotic overuse, preference of injectables and non-adherence to Essential drug list.Results: The average number of drugs prescribed per patient per encounter was calculated to be 3.25±0.24. The percentage of medicines prescribed by generic names was 35.89%. Percentage of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed was 48.21 % and with an injection prescribed was 1.85%. The percentage of medicines form NLEM was 76.36%.Conclusions: The values of WHO prescribing indicators obtained from this study show that there are some areas where the prescribers need to improve their prescribing practices