Assessment of the quality of prescribing in the patient admitted to intensive cardiac care unit (iccu) of a tertiary care hospital using prescription quality index (pqi) tool

Abstract

Background: A good prescription is evidence-based, rational, complete and precise. It can improve treatment outcomes. Several tools have been developed to assess the quality of prescriptions. the prescription quality index (PQI) is a tool which includes 22 parameters in the form of questions as an instrument for use across drugs and clinical problems in various contexts. This study aims to evaluate the prescription quality of patients with cardiovascular disorders who have been admitted to an intensive cardiac care unit. Materials and Methods: Patients with cardiovascular diseases admitted to the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) were considered with their complete case record to analyze prescriptions. Prescription Quality Index (PQI) questionnaire was used to evaluate each prescription with appropriate scores. Accordingly, the quality of the prescriptions were also assessed. Results: Majority of the patients admitted in the ICCU were in the age group of 60 to 69 years (52%) with male predominance (81%) in the cardiovascular diseases in this tertiary care centre. 49% of the patients had hypertension as comorbidity and 10% had Diabetes mellitus. Most of the prescriptions had few drugs, which were not the cheapest drug given as compared to its alternatives. Drug-drug interactions was rare. Prescribing in generic names were seen less. Clearly written and legible prescriptions were 56%. The prescriber’s and patient’s information was adequately seen in 61% and the overall PQI core showed that all the prescriptions were of high quality. Conclusion: The PQI is a valid tool to analyze the prescription quality in chronic conditions at different health-care facilities. Our study shows that high quality prescriptions can be attained by the careful prescription writing procedure, in an Intensive cardiac care unit in a tertiary care unit.