A Cross Sectional Study to Assess Prescribing Pattern of AYUSH Practitioners with respect to Allopathic Drugs and Rationality

Ayush Practioners, Allopathic Drugs, Rational Use

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Majority of Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy, Yoga (AYUSH) practitioners use allopathic drugs. This study was conducted to assess frequency of use of AYUSH and Allopathic drugs, and rationality of allopathic drugs in prescriptions of AYUSH practitioners. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted after collecting prescriptions from patients attending clinics of AYUSH practitioners over a period of 5 weeks. Total 401 prescriptions were collected from patients after written informed consent. National list of Essential Medicines 2003, India and other parameters like drug dose, route of administration, indication were used to assess rationality of Allopathic drugs. Descriptive statistics was used for analysis. Results: Total 1037 drugs were studied from 401 prescriptions of AYUSH medicine practitioners. Total 999 (97.65%) Allopathy drugs were prescribed which contained 620 (62.06%) single drugs and 379 (37.93%) fixed drug combinations(FDCs) . 91.52% of total prescriptions contained only allopathic drugs. 19 (4.73%) prescriptions had combination of Ayurveda and Allopathic drugs while one(0.25%) prescription had combination of Homeopathy and Allopathic drugs. Out of 14 AYUSH presriptions containing only AYUSH drugs,13 (3.24%) prescriptions belonged to homoeopathy and one to Ayurveda.Proper diagnosis was written only in 29 (7.23%) prescriptions . 64% of total prescriptions reflected irrational use of Allopathic drugs.Irrational prescribing practices were found high in FDCs (37.13%) as compared with single drugs (26.92%) Conclusion: Allopathic drugs are highly and irrationally prescribed by AYUSH practitioners. Maximum irrational prescribing practice was seen in FDCs as compared to single drugs.