Drug Utilization Pattern of Ciprofloxacin, Meropenem and Amikacin in Tertiary Care Hospital in Pakistan

Drug utilization pattern is premeditated to evaluate appropriateness of drug usage. The current study was performed in a multifaceted tertiary care setting in qualitative and cross sectional manner between January to June 2016. In the present study, the proportion and rate of antibacterial prescribing was found to be comparable to other studies conducted in the recent past. The standard integer of remedial moieties per encounter was also found to be elevated when compared to the analogous investigations carried out in various regions of the world at secondary and tertiary care levels. Patient medical charts were retrieved and retrospectively analyzed to extract relevant data. Demographic variables, gender, age, hospital stay, residing ward were taken into consideration. Whereas other variables for ciprofloxacin, meropenem and amikacin were studied with respect to initial/final diagnoses, administered dose, duration of treatment, dosing interval, frequency of administration, microbial culture/sensitivity test and multiple therapeutic regimen. Outcome measures composed of clinical outcome with respect to therapeutic success or failure. An approximation range of 48-59 % of one additional antibiotic and 30-36 % with two or more drugs was found to be for ciprofloxacin, meropenem and amikacin in selected patient’s cohort during their hospitalization period. Prophylactic, empiric and specific use of ciprofloxacin, meropenem and amikacin were in order of 17-39, 12-22 and 30-43 %. Study results highlighted the need for educational intercessions, development of robust and standard utilization guidelines for antibiotics, which could help overcome irrational practice.