title: Study of prescribing pattern of antimicrobial agents in medicine intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Central India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Intensive care unit (ICU) is a setting where large numbers of drugs are administered to patients and where the cost of hospitalization and drug treatment are high. The primary objective was to evaluate the current usage of anti-microbial agents in the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) of a teaching hospital in central India.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was a prospective study for a period of six months from May 2010 - December 2010. Prescription and patient records are reviewed and analyzed. Rationality of drug usage was also evaluated by analyzing the drug prescriptions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In intensive care unit cefotaxime was the most commonly used AMA by 32 % patients, followed by metronidazole 24% patients and ampicillin by 17.29% patients. 77% patients were given 1-3 AMAs, 23% patients were given 4 - 8 AMAs. Most common indication for the antimicrobial therapy was infection. According to evaluation use of antimicrobial therapy was rational in only 30% patients. Average numbers of drugs per patients were 7.5 drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  interventional programme should focus on infection control with rational antibiotic prescription aimed at minimizing unnecessary cost, adverse drug reaction and emergence of bacterial resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur.
authors.forename: Vandana A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Badar
authors.forename: Sanjaykumar B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Navale
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D017053:Infection Control; D007239:Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents