Abstract

DRUG UTILIZATION EVALUATION IN MEDICAL ONCOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT A TERITIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Dr. Sambasiva Rao*, N. Monika, N. Mahesh, P. Prathyusha, P. Lalitha Devi

ABSTRACT

Drug utilization evaluation studies are intended to study and evaluate the appropriateness of drug use in the patients. We aim to conduct a DUE study of anti-cancer drugs at a teritiary care hospital located in Kanuru, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, India. A total of 250 subjects are involved in the study of both the gender of all the age groups of which 146 are females and 104 are males. Mean age of the patient is 49.1± 4.5 of highest no. presenting within the age group of 40-49 years. Cisplatin is the mostly prescribed drug accounting 22% of the patients followed by 5- fluro uracil in 14% of the patients and the least prescribed one is Bevacizumab holding 1% of the patients. Of all the included subjects 77% of them are administered by I.V and 11% of them are prescribed with only oral agents and 12% are given both oral and iv drugs. Immediate ADRs are commonly seen in the patients administered with Paclitaxel and Rituximab. Average no. of cytotoxic drugs from prescription was 1.74. Percentage of cytotoxic drugs prescribed from essential drug list is 96.5% indicating rational use of drugs.

Keywords: Drug utilization, anti-cancer drugs, chemotherapy, ADRs, rational drug use.