Vol. 8, Issue 6 (2019)

Objective: This study aims to document the use of antibiotics in paediatric wards and classify it according to the World Health Organisation classification which helps in forming future action plans and monitoring in the antibiotic usage and also to reduce the cost consumed by the antibiotic usage.

Materials and Methods: It was a prospective observational study, conducted in the Department of Paediatrics, Rajah Muthiah Medical College Hospital, Chidambaram for a period of six months (November 2017 to April 2018). The study was approved by Institutional Human Ethics Committee. A sample of 50 was collected who were treated with at least one Antibiotic. Demographic details of patients, patients prescribed with antibiotics were recorded; WHO Antibiotic classification was used to classify Antibiotics.

Results: In this study Beta-lactam group of antibiotics was mostly prescribed (69.11%), followed by quinolones (16.17%).one ADR (2%) was observed and reported during the study. The antibiotics prescribed in this study is classified into ACCESS,WATCH and RESERVE group by WHO guidelines, in which 46.96% of antibiotics comes under ACCESS group, 51.37% comes under WATCH group. Cost minimization analysis have been performed only for antibiotics prescribed after the study, by which 18.4% is reduced from actual antibiotic cost and 4.29% overall cost of the prescription can be reduced.

Conclusion: The study shows that 3rd generation cephalosporin was prescribed mostly during the study that comes under WATCH category by WHO, which further emphasises health care professionals to monitor closely, since Antibiotic resistance is a great threat to mankind. This study also shows that the substantial reduction in cost of prescription can be done by performing CMA for antibiotics, which consume 30-40 % of hospital budget.