Medication Safety in Obstetrics and Gynecology Ward in Tertiary Care Hospital, Bangalore, India

Objective: The present study is aimed to access medication safety in pregnant patients involving drug utilization pattern, therapeutic inappropriateness and drugs related problem in Tertiary Care Hospital. Methodology: It is a prospective observational study, conducted in inpatient obstetrics and gynecology ward. The data was collected in a predesigned data collection form 150 pregnant patients who are assessed during the period of six months of the study. Data were collected about their socio-demographic background, medication use during pregnancy, medication/pregnancy risk awareness, sources of drug information and beliefs about medications. Analyzed data included drug utilization pattern, drugs related problem and potential drug-drug interaction. Result: Among the study patients most of them 75.33% were in the age group of 21-30 year. Most of them 20.67% and 14.67% had hypertension and gestational diabetes mellitus as comorbidities. On the review of 150 prescriptions, the average number of drugs prescribed was found to be 7.62. Iron, folic acid, calcium and vitamins were most frequently used drugs during the pregnancy. Other drug include paracetamol, prostaglandin analogs, antibiotics and H2 receptor blocker. Most of the used drug were from Category A (54.50%). Only 0.1% of drug were from Category X. There were 161 possible risks of major potential drug interactions. The most common interaction was between Metronidazole and Ondansetron. The management for the most of adverse drug interaction was monitoring and time spacing. Most women had a positive attitude toward medications in general but they believed pregnant women should be more cautious regarding drug-use during pregnancy. About 32.67% of the participants were able, individually, to name some medications to be avoided during pregnancy. The primary information sources were from gynecologists followed by general practitioner and pharmacists. Conclusion: The study was indicative of the influence of the characteristics of pregnant women in the Indian community on the medication intake. Polypharmacy was higher and generic prescribing should be encouraged. Early signals of irrational use of drugs can be detected by frequent prescription auditing. There is a need to educate women regarding the medication usage during pregnancy.