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Prescribing practices in rural and urban health training centres in Tamil Nadu exhibit mild polypharmacy and suboptimal generic prescribing, although antibiotic use remains within acceptable WHO limits. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.INCREMENTAL. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

August 23, 2026Advances in Clinical Medical ResearchOpen Access

Evaluation of Prescription Practices in Rural and Urban Health Training Centres of a Teaching Hospital in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu

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Authors

PVPooja Mary VaishaliSaveetha University SSuguna.E SSathya.A

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Implication

Cross-sectional study reveals mild polypharmacy and suboptimal generic prescribing in rural and urban outpatient clinics, highlighting the need for improved rational drug utilization.

Key Points

To assess and compare drug prescribing patterns between rural and urban health training centres of a teaching hospital using WHO core prescribing indicators.
Conducted a facility-based cross-sectional analytical study reviewing N=636 outpatient prescriptions (318 rural and 318 urban) selected via systematic random sampling over three months.
Audited prescriptions using World Health Organization core prescribing indicators and analyzed differences using the chi-square test.
The average number of drugs per encounter exceeded recommendations in both rural (2.4) and urban (2.8) health centres, with generic prescribing at 78.9% and 71.1%, respectively.
Injection prescribing was significantly higher in urban than rural centres (12.6% vs. 8.5%, p = 0.039), while adherence to the Essential Medicines List was higher in rural centres (87.4% vs. 81.1%, p = 0.024).
Antibiotic prescribing remained within WHO limits (19.5% rural vs. 22.6% urban), though diagnostic documentation was deficient overall (72.6%).

Cite This Study

Vaishali et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8aada77677a34114445e8a https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22043225

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Implication

Cross-sectional study reveals mild polypharmacy and suboptimal generic prescribing in rural and urban outpatient clinics, highlighting the need for improved rational drug utilization.

Evaluation of Prescription Practices in Rural and Urban Health Training Centres of a Teaching Hospital in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Evaluation of Prescription Practices in Rural and Urban Health Training Centres of a Teaching Hospital in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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