ABSTRACT… Objectives: To evaluate drug prescribing practices at Medical Unit, ICU and Nephrology Unit, using WHO prescribing indicators, in order to promote rational drug use. Study Design: A retrospective cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta, Pakistan, from July to December 2015. Methodology: Drug prescribing trends in 218 prescriptions were scrutinized thoroughly. Data was collected by well-trained pharmacy personals by using prescriptions and prescription registration books of patients. Descriptive statistics were calculated on SPSS version 16.0. Results: The average number of drugs prescribed per prescription were 4.11 whereas, WHO recommends that it should be 2.00 or less. Alternatively, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and from an essential drug list were 14.73% and 78.35% while, in accordance with WHO it must be 100% and 70% correspondingly. On the other hand, percentage of encounters having antibiotics or injections prescribed were 18.33% and 32.79% but according to WHO it should be20% or less and 10%respectively. Nevertheless, proper diagnosis was stated in 89.44% of prescriptions and 72.11% prescriptions had complete relevance between treatment and diagnosis. Along with, appropriate drug dosage and their administration was instituted in 65.16% of prescriptions and 73.21% of prescriptions had accurate duration of therapy. Conclusion: The prescribing patterns in Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta reflect the practice of polypharmacy, which is more of an irrational type in contrast to WHO recommendations. Thus, there is an urge to bring about some interventions to improve the pharmacotherapy.Article Citation: Mahmood Z, Mengal MH, Saleem S, Haroon ur Rashid, Maheen S. Irrational drug use; evaluation of prescribing trends in a hospital.

Background: Thrombophilia is a common risk factor for venous thromboembolism. The objective of this study was to determine prevalence of inherited protein C and protein S deficiency in renal transplant candidates of Sindh Province, Pakistan. Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Pathology, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi, Pakistan from 16-10-2010 to 15-4-2011. 300 renal transplant candidates were selected. Candidates with acquired thrombotic disorders, women taking oral contraceptives and patients taking anti-coagulants during previous one week were excluded. Venous blood samples were collected before starting dialysis procedure or at least two days after last dialysis session. Platelet-poor plasma (PPP) was parted using plastic pipettes and protein C and protein S were processed on coagulation analyzer. Sex, age groups (<40 and ≥ 40years), presence of protein C deficiency and presence of protein S deficiency were nominal variables and analyzed by count and percentage along with population parameters. Results: 300 renal transplant candidates included 199 (66.33%) men and 101 (33.67%) women and 238 (79.33%) in age group <40 years and 62 (20.67%) cases in age group ≥40 years. Prevalence of protein C deficiency was 6.66% (20/300) and of protein S deficiency was 4% (12/300). Prevalence of PC deficiency was higher in men 5.33% than women 1.33%. Also prevalence of PS deficiency was higher in men 3.0% than women 1.0%. Prevalence of PC deficiency was higher in age group <40 years 5.67% than ≥40 years 1.0%. Also prevalence of PS deficiency was higher in age group <40 years 3.33% than ≥40 years 0.66%. Conclusion: More prolonged and follow-up studies are needed to define the true significance of deficiency of protein C and S (coagulation inhibitors) in post-transplant settings.

Objectives: To evaluate drug prescribing practices at Medical Unit, ICU andNephrology Unit, using WHO prescribing indicators, in order to promote rational drug use.Study Design: A retrospective cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: BolanMedical Complex Hospital Quetta, Pakistan, from July to December 2015. Methodology: Drugprescribing trends in 218 prescriptions were scrutinized thoroughly. Data was collected bywell-trained pharmacy personals by using prescriptions and prescription registration booksof patients. Descriptive statistics were calculated on SPSS version 16.0. Results: The averagenumber of drugs prescribed per prescription were 4.11 whereas, WHO recommends that itshould be 2.00 or less. Alternatively, percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and froman essential drug list were 14.73% and 78.35% while, in accordance with WHO it must be 100%and 70% correspondingly. On the other hand, percentage of encounters having antibiotics orinjections prescribed were 18.33% and 32.79% but according to WHO it should be20% or lessand 10%respectively. Nevertheless, proper diagnosis was stated in 89.44% of prescriptionsand 72.11% prescriptions had complete relevance between treatment and diagnosis. Alongwith, appropriate drug dosage and their administration was instituted in 65.16% of prescriptionsand 73.21% of prescriptions had accurate duration of therapy. Conclusion: The prescribingpatterns in Bolan Medical Complex Hospital Quetta reflect the practice of polypharmacy, whichis more of an irrational type in contrast to WHO recommendations. Thus, there is an urge tobring about some interventions to improve the pharmacotherapy.