Aims and MethodThis study examines prescription and monitoring of lorazepam on three acute adult psychiatric wards at a university teaching hospital. Retrospective data from 102 consecutive in-patients were analysed.ResultsThere were 83 patients (81.4%) who were prescribed lorazepam, however 45 of these (46%) were never administered it. Indication for lorazepam prescription was documented by the doctor in 35 patients (42.2%). Administration by nursing staff was documented in the medical notes on 86 occasions (60.0%) and on 32 of these (37.0%) the indication was unclear. On 21 occasions (14.7%) more than 2 mg was given; 13.7% of prescriptions were not reviewed and 64% of those reviewed after more than 4 weeks.Clinical ImplicationsLorazepam was overprescribed and inadequately monitored, which may increase the risk of dependence.

Background: The Drug utilization research (DUR) compares drug use between different countries and regions and is used to assess the rationality of prescribing pattern of the drug therapy. With this background we decided to evaluate antipsychotic drugs prescribing pattern in the psychiatric patients in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: the study was carried out at Department of Psychiatry, DSMCH. It was open label, cross - sectional, prescribed Documents based study. Duration of the study was one month (May-2017). Out-Patient number, age, sex, diagnosis, prescribed generic name, brand name, dose, route of administration, duration of therapy obtained from the Prescription register of Out - Patient Department of the Psychiatry.Results: The clinical experiences of the Psychiatrist I, II and III were 17 years, 35 years and 10 years respectively. The Psychiatrist I, II and III prescribed treatment for 36 (31.9%), 61 (54%) and 16 (14.2%) patients respectively. Among overall (n=113) patients (average age 38.9 years), male n=56 (49.6%) and female=57 (50.4%) were treated by all the three psychiatrists. The percentage of prescription of various drugs used were: Escitalopram (15.7%), Clonazepam (14.6%), Sertraline (8.7%), Risperidone (7.5%), Propranolol (6.7%), Olanzapine (6.3%), Quetiapine (5.9%), Trihexyphenidyl (5.5%), Amitriptyline (5.1%) and Other prescribed drugs, were between (0.4 to 2.8%).Conclusions: From this study, it can conclude that rational usage of drugs were followed in this study. All three prescribers (Psychiatrist I, II, and III) prescriptions were found to be rationale.