Prescription Audit in Outpatient Pharmacy of a Tertiary Care Referral Hospital in Haryana Using Who/ Inrud Core Prescribing Indicators: A Step Towards Refining Drug Use and Patient Care

Background: Evaluation of internationally comparable indicators of medicines use is important to devise strategies to promote rational use of medicines (RUM). Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in a tertiary care hospital from January to June 2024. Prescriptions were collected from the outpatient pharmacy using systematic random sampling and analysed for WHO/INRUD core prescribing indicators, index of rational drug prescribing (IRDP) and completeness (general, treatment and prescribers’ details). Results: Out of 844 prescriptions collected, 607 were analysed. A total of 1837 drugs were prescribed with a mean (SD) of 3.03 (1.51) drugs per prescription. 1378 (75%) drugs were prescribed as generic names. 125 prescriptions (20.59%) had an antibiotic prescribed. Injectables were given in 7 (1.15%) prescriptions. Of the total 1837 drugs, 1018 (55.4%) were mentioned in National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022 while 934 (50.8%) were included in Haryana state essential medicines list (2013-2014). IRDP) was calculated as 3.86. The mean (SD) completeness score of the prescriptions was 10.33 (0.8) (range 5 to 11). Conclusion: There was a high incidence of polypharmacy, brand name and non-essential drug prescribing while antibiotic and injection use were in accordance with WHO standards.