Retrospective observational study of antimicrobial drugs utilization in medical ICU in a tertiary care teaching hospital of Himachal Pradesh

Introduction: Patients admitted in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are already sick and they are vulnerable to superadded infections. They suffer from other co-morbidities and also undergo invasive procedures. So these patients are under cover of antimicrobial drugs. Materials and Method: It was a retrospective observational study, conducted during a period from March, 2016 to July, 2016. Data of 152 patients was collected from the Central Record Section of the hospital. Drug utilization pattern of antimicrobial agents was analyzed. Results: Out of 152 patients, 100 (65%) were males and 52 (35%) were females. The mean age was 60.05 ± 16.05 years with a range of 20 - 90 years. The mean age of males was 58.72 ± 14.85 years and females were 62.52 ± 17.80 years. Average duration of hospital stay was 2.96 ± 2.57 days with a range of 1 to 20 days. Total of 131 antibiotics were prescribed. Antibiotics prescribed were 3rd generation cephalosporins in 43 patients, macrolides in 27 patients, quinolones in 9, antianaerobics in 8, tetracycline in 5, oxazolidinones, aminoglycosides, antifungals and others in 2 patients each. FDCs were prescribed in 24% prescriptions. Prescription pattern of FDCs was piperacillin + tazobactam in 20 patients, amoxicillin + clavulanic acid in 5 patients, ceftriaxone + sulbactam in 3 patients, polymyxin B + bacitracin + neomycin in 2 patients and ofloxacin + ornidazole in 1 patient. Conclusion: Drug utilization studies provide us prescription pattern in the medical ICU. We can minimize the incidence of antimicrobial resistance by following the standard guidelines of antimicrobial prescription.