Publication:

Antimicrobial prescribing patterns in surgical inpatient of tertiary care hospital in Eastern India

Background Antimicrobials form the cornerstone of prescriptions for treating infection. Surgical management cannot be possible without the use of antibiotics. Severity of infection, suspected spectrum of organisms and their sensitivity, co-morbidities of the patient, route of antibiotic administration are the important parameter to consider before selecting antibiotic.

Methods Cross-sectional, hospital based, descriptive study was conducted in the ward of Surgery Department of IQ City Medical college, Durgapur over a period of 1 year. The relevant information was entered into the pretested preformats (containing name, age, sex, diagnosis, ongoing treatment as recorded from patients’ prescription slips or CRFs) and analyzed. Necessary permission was granted by the Institutional Ethical Committee and written informed consent was obtained from the patients prior to collecting their prescription slips/CRF.

Results Commonest cause of hospitalization was cholelithiasis (318 (32.7%)). Antimicrobials were the most commonly prescribed drugs (1626 (31.6%)). Single antibiotic prescribing frequency are similar to two antibiotic prescribing (both 44%). Piperacillin+Tazobactum combination most commonly prescribe antibiotic.

Conclusions Beta lactam antibiotic specifically Piperacillin (ATC class: J01D) were the most commonly prescribed antibiotic agents both before and after surgical procedures.