Background:In surgical wards, drugs are required to manage pain, nausea, vomiting, infections, etc. A growing number of pharmaceutical products are available in present era. Irrational prescribing of drugs is prevalent worldwide. Drug utilization study can be used to assess prescribing patterns. Authors undertook this study to determine current practice of prescribing in surgical wards of the hospital. Methods: Authors conducted observational, noninterventional, descriptive study among patients admitted in surgical wards for one year. Authors have analysed collected data of 604 patients using descriptive statistics to determine utilization pattern of drugs and drug use indicators. Results: Appendicitis (14.9%) followed by hernia (10.6%) were leading diseases for admission. Mean duration of stay was 7.44. Average number of drugs in a prescription was 8.94. Antibiotics (32.07 %), analgesics (17.11 %) and antacids (16.09 %) were leading drug groups prescribed. Amikacin (5.81 %) followed by metronidazole (5.30 %) and ciprofloxacin (5.19 %) were commonly prescribed antimicrobial drugs. Tramadol (5.31 %) and pantoprazole (7.17 %) were leading drugs prescribed from analgesics and antacids respectively. All prescriptions had at least one injectable drug. At least one antibiotic was present in 92.05 % prescriptions. Majority of drugs (87.27 %) were prescribed by generic names. Proportion of drugs prescribed from essential medicine list was 84.22 %. Conclusions: Polypharmacy and injectable drug prescribing were common in practice. There is a scope for improving such prescribing practices among practitioners. Use of multiple antibiotics should be avoided whenever possible and usage should be evidence based.

Background: Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are among the commonest non-communicable diseases. Co-existence of hypertension and diabetes increases morbidity and mortality. So co-existence of these diseases requires attention and rational management. Studying current prescribing pattern of drugs provide data for recommendations and decisions regarding rational practice. We undertook this study to study prescribing pattern.Methods: It was cross sectional, observational, descriptive study in outdoor patients suffering from hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus for duration of one year. Data of 601 patients were analyzed using descriptive statistics to determine prescribing pattern of drugs.Results: In this study, 71.55% patients were above 50 years age. Female patients were 56.57%. Average duration of hypertension was 4.08 years. Commonly prescribed antihypertensive drug groups were angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors (85.36%) followed by β receptor blockers (33.44%) and calcium channel blockers (29.95%). Enalapril (85.36%) followed by amlodipine (29.95%) and atenolol (21.46%) were commonly prescribed antihypertensive drugs. Single antihypertensive drug was prescribed in 292 (48.59%) prescriptions. The most common monotherapy drug was enalapril (82.19%). Two antihypertensive drugs were prescribed in 231 (38.43%) prescriptions. The most common two drug combination was ACE inhibitors + β receptor blockers (40.69%). Four antihypertensive drugs were prescribed in only 1.50% prescriptions.Conclusions: From this study, the results suggest that the prescribing pattern of antihypertensive drugs reflects recommendations of current guidelines and practices. However, β receptor blockers were prescribed more commonly. There is room for improvement in choice of drugs.

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Background: Tobacco use is a major preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Tobacco usage among medical professionals should be reduced. It is important that they are aware regarding effects/ill effects of tobacco use, anti tobacco strategies, tobacco cessation technique to reduce tobacco usage among population. Authors undertook this study to understand tobacco use among medical students.Methods: Authors conducted cross sectional, descriptive study by collecting anonymous data of 414 undergraduate medical students of medical college, Jamnagar in predesigned forms. Data were analysed using MS-excel and graphpad prism. Authors used Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence to assess nicotine dependence.Results: Tobacco users were 19.57%, among them 83.95% were smokers. Prevalence was higher in male (34.35% in male and 1.09% in female subgroup) and students with positive family history (36.81% in positive and 6.03% in negative family history subgroup). Current users were 7.73%. They were 8.20% in hosteller and 2.78% day scholar subgroups. Authors didn’t find statistical significant association of medical education with habit. Leading causes of starting tobacco use were curiosity/recreational purpose (35.8%), peer group pressure (32.10%) and stress (25.93%). Most of current user had low nicotine dependence (73.33%).Conclusions: Tobacco use among medical students is a significant problem. Important factors affecting it are gender, family history, current living status, stress, peer group pressure, media influences. Authors recommend that special awareness programme and specific training regarding tobacco cessation should be given to medical students.

Background: Diabetes mellitus and hypertension frequently co-exist in a patient. In such patients, the risk of complications, morbidity and mortality increases. One should be careful in management and choosing drugs. Authors undertook this study to understand the prescribing pattern of the physicians in diabetic hypertensive patients.Methods: This cross sectional, observational study was conducted in type 2 diabetic outdoor patients with co-existing hypertension, for duration of one year. We used descriptive statistics to analyze data of 615 patients to determine prescribing pattern of drugs.Results: 93.17% of patients were more than 40 years of age. Ratio of female to male patients was 1.30. Mean duration of diabetes was 5.81 years. Multi drug anti diabetic regimes (54.47%) were common than monotherapy (43.90%). Commonly prescribed anti diabetic drug groups were biguanides (89.27%), Sulfonylureas (43.90%) and insulin (15.28%). Metformin (89.27%), glibenclamide (29.11%) and insulin (15.28%) were commonly prescribed anti diabetic drugs. Metformin was the most common monotherapy drug and biguanide + sulfonylurea was the most common two drug combination. Commonly prescribed drugs for co-morbid conditions were enalapril (83.41%), aspirin (30.41%), amlodipine (29.76%) atorvastatin (27.32%) and famotidine (26.34%). Average number of drugs prescribed in a prescription was 4.65. Prescriptions with injections were 15.93% and with brand names were 13.15%.Conclusions: Prescribing pattern of drugs was as per current practices and recommendations of guidelines. Still, there is room for improvement in choice of drug, prescribing drug with generic name and choosing drug from essential medicine list.