Abstract Introduction: A prescription audit is a systematic review of prescriptions to evaluate the quality of medical care and adherence to standards, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) prescribing indicators. It identifies errors such as omissions and commissions, which can lead to adverse outcomes and irrational drug use. By addressing these issues, audits promote safer, cost-effective, and rational prescribing practices, ultimately improving patient care. Context: Prescription audit with the WHO core criteria. Aims: The aim of the study was to find out prevailing prescription errors and study the prescription pattern and analyze its appropriateness according to the WHO drug prescribing indicators of out-patients in medicine department of MGM Medical College and M.Y. Hospital, Indore. Settings and Design: This study was conducted at Medicine OPD of M.Y. Hospital and Pharmacology Department, MGM Medical College. This was a prospective cross-sectional observational study. Materials and Methods: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted over 15 days in May 2024. A total of 230 prescriptions from medicine outpatient department were analyzed using a structured pro forma to evaluate patient and doctor information, drug details, and prescription legibility. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis used Microsoft Excel version 2108. Results: Patient information, including name, age, sex, and address, was complete in all prescriptions, but height and weight were missing in all cases. Doctor information was mostly present, with some missing signatures and phone numbers. The average number of drugs per prescription was 3.53. Most drugs were prescribed by generic name (92.97%), and the prevalence of antimicrobials was low (8.26%). Injectable drugs were infrequently used (10 cases/1.74%). Conclusions: The study highlighted good adherence to the WHO guidelines in terms of using generic names and limiting polypharmacy. However, improvements are needed in prescription completeness and documentation of doctor’s contact details. Regular audits and targeted interventions could enhance prescription practices and patient care quality.
Parmar et al. (Wed,) studied this question.