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Evaluation of pediatric prescriptions using WHO indicators in a tertiary care hospital in Pune city, India

Context: The study provides comprehensive insight on the use of World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators in the pediatric population in a tertiary care hospital. Aims: The aim was to evaluate pediatric prescriptions as per WHO prescribing indicators. Settings and Design: This study was a prospective observational study, conducted at Pediatrics Outpatient Department (OPD) of a tertiary care hospital for 6 months. Materials and Methods: This included consent form and data collection form. Statistical Analysis: Spearman’s rank correlation and Mann–Whitney U-test were performed to evaluate whether prescribing indicators are statistically dependent on age and gender, respectively. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 418 prescriptions were included in the study. The majority of the patients were female (70.09%). The mean age of the patients was 5.87 (SD±4.32) years, with a range from 3 days to 17 years. The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.4 (SD±1.022). Only 4.21% of medicines were prescribed by generic name. Antibiotics and injections were prescribed in 7.65% and 0.23% of prescriptions, respectively. Drugs prescribed from the essential drug list (EDL) were 60.45%. Conclusion: The study necessitates the need to follow the optimal values set by WHO prescribing indicators. The percentage of prescriptions with antibiotics and injections was in the optimal range as set by WHO. However, the average number of drugs/prescriptions, usage of generic names, and prescriptions using the EDL were not in the optimal range. The prescribing indicator did not statistically depend on age and gender.