Clinical profile and drug utilization pattern in an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Western Nepal

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the clinical profile of patients admitted\nto the intensive care unit (ICU) of Manipal Teaching Hospital\n(MTH) at Pokhara, Nepal, identify the commonly prescribed\ndrugs, drug categories, dosage forms, antimicrobials,\nsensitivity pattern of antimicrobials and the treatment\noutcomes.\nMaterials and Methods: A cross sectional, descriptive study in\nwhich he case records of all the patients admitted in the ICU\nduring 1st August to 30th September, 2007 were collected and\nthe details were entered in the patient profile form. The filled\npatient profile forms were retrospectively analyzed as per the\nstudy objectives.\nResults: Altogether, 201 patients [males 101 (50.25%)] were\nadmitted. Most common diagnosis was ‘Myocardial Infarction\n/Ischemic heart disease’ [13.96 % (n=62)]. The median\n(interquartile range) of the ICU stay was 3 (2-4) days.\nCardiovascular drugs [31.7% (n=761) were the most\ncommonly prescribed. Among the antimicrobials, metronidazole was most\ncommonly prescribed followed by ceftriaxone. The\nmorality rate in the ICU was 17.41 % and the major causes\nof mortality were cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.\nConclusion: Antimicrobials was the most common drug\ncategory used in the ICU and ‘pantoprazole’ was the most\ncommonly prescribed individual drug. Cardiovascular and\nrespiratory diseases were major causes of death in the\nICU.