PATTERNS OF PRESCRIPTION WRITING IN PSYCHIATRIC CLINICS

Objectives: to screen the prescription-writing pattern of psychiatrists in private clinics in peshawar for the essential elements of prescriptions and to investigate the prescribing trends at peshawar. methodology: this observational study was carried out at lrh peshawar on 602 prescriptions in 5 months duration. the prescriptions were collected from the patients admitted to lrh and the variables were checked and noted directly into electronic form. results: averagely 3.34 drugs were prescribed per prescription, in which drug-related variables: (i) strength of medication was indicated for all drugs in 409 (67.94%) of the prescriptions and were missing for some drugs in 177 (29.4%) prescriptions, (ii) total quantity of a drug to be dispensed was indicated for any drug in just over 111(18.43%) of prescriptions, (iii) the instructions for taking the medication were complete in only 301 (50%) of prescriptions. fluoxetine alone or in combination (8.4%) was the most commonly prescribed antidepressant. there were 319 (15.8%) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (nsaids) and/or analgesics. vitamin preparations accounted for 4.02% of all drugs dispensed. conclusion: ssri’s were the most frequently prescribed medication in majority of prescriptions. inconsistency regarding different prescription components was observed, such as strength of medication, frequency or instruction for medication use etc.