Background: To improve the therapeutic advantage and decrease the undesired effects, of drugs, the periodic evaluation of drug utilization pattern enables to make suitable and rational modification in the current prescribing trend.
Aims and Objectives: The objectives of the study were to evaluate the pattern of the usage of analgesics in post-operative pain management in the department of orthopedics.
Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months by analyzing the case records of patients who have undergone surgery in the departments of orthopedics. The data regarding prescription of analgesics on the 0, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd post-operative days, their dose, preferred route of administration, and mono/combined therapy were collected from case sheets. The data were analyzed and the results were presented using Microsoft Excel.
Results: Diclofenac, a non-opioid analgesic was prescribed commonly (75.4% and 83.7%) on day 0 and day 1 post-operative period, respectively, through parenteral routes. Tramadol (22.2% and 15.4%) was preferred among opioids. Aceclofenac and paracetamol combination through oral route was preferred for multidrug therapy. Oral route of drug administration was preferred from the 2nd post-operative day onward. Monotherapy was employed during early post-operative period and multidrug therapy on days 2 and 3 during the post-operative period. Generic drugs were prescribed to only 12.06%.
Conclusion: Post-operative pain can be managed by non-opioid analgesics such as diclofenac as a monotherapy and combination with opioids such as tramadol can be used for patients not responding well to diclofenac alone. Drugs should be ideally prescribed by generic names.
Key words: Analgesics; Orthopedics; Post-operative Pain
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