Abstract
Introduction:: Critically ill patients often receive central nervous system drugs due to primary disorder or complications secondary to multiorgan failure. The aim of the study was to evaluate the current utilization pattern of central nervous system drugs among patients in the medical intensive care unit. Materials and Methods:: A prospective observational study carried out over a period of 1 year. The relevant data on drug prescription of each patient was collected from the inpatient case record. Drugs were classified into different groups based on WHOATC classification. The demographic data, clinical data, and utilization of different classes of drugs as well as individual drugs were analyzed. Results:: A total of 325 consecutive patients were included for the analysis; 211 (65%) patients were males; 146 patients (45%) were above 55 years of age. Encephalopathy [63(19.38%)] and stroke [62(19%)] were the common central nervous system diagnoses. In a total of 1237 drugs, 68% of the drugs were prescribed by trade name. Midazolam (N05CD08) 142 (43.69%), morphine (N02AA01) 201 (61.84%), and atracurium (M03AC04) 82 (25.23%) were the most commonly used sedative, analgesic, and neuromuscular blocker, respectively. Phenytoin (N03AB02) 151 (46.46%) had maximum representation among antiepileptic agents. Conclusions:: Utilization of drugs from multiple central nervous system drug classes was noticed. Rational use of drugs can be encouraged by prescription by brand name.
Copyright
Association for Helping Neurosurgical Sick People. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Derivative-Non Commercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit.
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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which permits unrestricted reproduction and distribution, for non-commercial purposes only; and use and reproduction, but not distribution, of adapted material for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited.
