NEW DELHI: A latest study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has shed worrisome light over the conduct of medical professionals sitting in top institutes which may jeopardize patients’ safety.
In the study, conducted at 13 medical institutions including AIIMS and Safdarjung, it was found that around 45 per cent of doctors are writing incomplete prescriptions to their patients.
Besides, 10 per cent of the prescriptions studied were found having “unacceptable deviations” such as inappropriate prescription of medications or more than one diagnosis.
The year-long research has been published in Indian Journal of Medical Research titled ‘Evaluation of prescriptions from tertiary care hospitals across India for deviations from treatment guidelines & their potential consequences.’
The cross-sectional observational study was conducted between 2019 and 2020 in the outpatient departments of tertiary care hospitals in wherein the 13 ICMR Rational Use of Medicines Centres are located.
The survey was undertaken at renowned government hospitals across the country including Delhi AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital.
Citing the methodology of conducting the survey, the IJMR report said, “Prescriptions not compliant with the standard treatment guidelines and incomplete prescriptions with respect to formulation, dose, duration and frequency were labelled as ‘prescriptions having deviations’. A deviation that could result in a drug interaction, lack of response, increased cost, preventable adverse drug reaction (ADR) and/or antimicrobial resistance was labelled as an unacceptable deviation.”
Findings of the report said that a total of 7,800 patients’ prescriptions were taken from these hospitals out of which, 4,838 were examined and later, deficiencies were found in 2,171 prescriptions. In what can be called the ‘cherry on the cake’ was that 475, i.e., about 9.8% of the prescriptions were found to be completely wrong. 102 had stated more than one diagnosis and in some of them drugs were prescribed inappropriately, the report finding stated.
According to the research, the doctors who gave the faulty or incomplete prescriptions had considerable years of experience in practicing medicine.
“All the prescribers were postgraduates in their respective disciplines and on average were in practice for 4-18 years. For patients with pain as a presenting symptom, analgesics were co-prescribed with pantoprazole. Gastroprotective drugs are to be prescribed if the patient has a risk of developing peptic ulcer. Unnecessary prescribing of pantoprazole may lead to potential side effects such as abdominal bloating, oedema and rash,” the report added.