EVALUATION OF DRUG UTILIZATION PATTERN AND COST ANALYSIS OF PATIENTS ATTENDING DERMATOLOGY OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT AT TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL OF SOUTH GUJARAT

Evaluation of drug utilization patterns and cost analysis (direct and indirect) at the dermatology department help to implement guidelines/policy regarding rational prescription and reduce the cost burden on the health care system. The 250 patients’ prescriptions attending the dermatology outpatient department were analyzed using WHO core drug use indicators. Prescribed drugs were classified according to ATC/DDD classification system, the PDD/DDD ratio of drugs was calculated, and direct and indirect costs per encounter were done. The average drug per prescription was 3.3±1, the percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 95.52%, the percentage of utilization of scheduled drugs from the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) (2022) was 98.79%, the percentage of scheduled drugs from the WHO essential list (2019) was 46.73%. Patient’s care indicators where average consulting time was 7min±1min, average dispensing time was 7min±2min, percentage of drug dispensed was 95.04%, and patient’s knowledge about correct dosage is 10%. Antifungal (26.66%) class of drugs were prescribed maximum followed by antihistaminic (25.42%) in participants. Among prescribed drugs, 41.66% of drugs had a PDD/DDD ratio of 1. The average total cost per prescription was 56.33 INR, average indirect cost per patient was 168.46 INR. The percentage of the cost borne by the hospital was 65.64% and the percentage borne by the participant was 34.35%.Such results indicate that prescriptions were more towards rationality, reducing the ADR, drug-drug interactions, and direct and indirect cost burden to patients and the health system.