IJSR International Journal of Scientific Research 2277 - 8179 Indian Society for Health and Advanced Research ijsr-8-5-19137 Original Research Paper Drug Utilization Research of Antibiotics in an Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective study from a Rural Healthcare Setting in South India Harish Handyal Dr. Polina Akhila Chowdary Dr. Dr. Mohan Raj Rathinavelu Dr. May 2019 8 5 01 02 ABSTRACT

Drug utilization study is an important tool to study the clinical use of drugs and its impact on healthcare System. Also contributes to the rational use of drugs by describing patterns of drug use and identifying interventions to improve drug use in intensive care. Aims and Objectives: To assess the utilization of antibiotics in a 7–bedded general intensive care unit of a 340 bedded rural hospital in south India. Methodology: A retrospective study was carried out, studying Medical records of patients admitted in ICU between January 2015 and December 2017. To determine the most commonly prescribed AMAs & find out the utilization of AMAs in ICU as measured by DDD/ 100 bed–days. Results: A total of 720 inpatients case papers of ICU were screened, of which 322 (44.72%) patients were male and 398 (55.27%) were female. Total 400 (55.55%), 210 (29.16%), 14 (1.94%) and 96 (12.91%) patients were admitted with medical, surgical, orthopaedics and OBG indications respectively. Average number of drugs per prescription was found to be 3.725. Number of antimicrobials per patient was found to be 3. 066. Total drug utilization in ICU in terms of DDD/100 bed days was found to be 113.19%. In conclusion: In our setting, antibiotics utilized were found to be rational & are comparable to those of previous studies. However, prescription protocols need to be further addressed to guide appropriate use of drugs in the ICU setting.