A STUDY OF PRESCRIPTION AUDIT IN INPATIENT DEPARTMENT OF TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL, PUNE

Background – Prescription is a written medical order by health care professionals that demands safety of patient through appropriate prescribing. Inappropriate prescribing leads to medication errors that can be detected through prescription auditing. Our study was conducted with the aim of evaluating, monitoring, and modification of prescribing methods if necessary. Method- A prescription audit tool kit was designed that includes elements needed to be monitored. These elements were monitored for completeness of the of prescription format. Results- Total 95 patients were evaluated for prescription audit out of which clinical assistant wrote 95-medication order, Resident Wrote 81, and Consultant wrote 62 medication orders. According to the checklist provided by the hospital 16 parameters was assesed.88.64percentage medication orders were compliance with the assessed parameters in case of Clinical Assistant. While, In case of Resident Doctor and consultant 78.87% and 77.5% compliance was observed resp. Conclusion- Our Study Shows that many of the prescribing habits of the residents and consultants needs attention and should be modified.Traning Prescribers for Rational Prescribing can help to improve prescribing practices and thereby reducing prescribing errors safeguarding safety of the patient. Keywords: Auditing, Prescription Audit Tool Kit, Rational Prescribing, Medication Errors, Drug-Drug Interactions