Study of Prevalence of Potential Drug Interactions in Medicine Wards at A Tertiary Hospital

A drug-drug interaction is said to occur when the effect of a drug is altered by concurrent administration of another drug. There is a need to know and understand the commonly occurring preventable interactions. This cross sectional, observational study was carried out for the surveillance of the same. One prescription per patient was collected on their 3rd day of hospitalization and analyzed for the likelihood of potential drug-drug interactions by using online data base-Medscape drug interaction checker and standard references. Parameters calculated were, average number of drugs per prescription, percentage of prescriptions having at least 1 pair of interacting drugs, average number of potentially interacting drug pairs per prescription, and classification of interactions based on mechanism and severity. An average of 6 medications was prescribed per patient. Potential drug-drug interactions were encountered in majority of prescriptions, 90% appeared to be non intentional. 53% were minor in severity, rest were moderate or severe; requiring monitoring, alteration of drug therapy, or intervention. Such studies put forth the common drug interactions which we come across. Most are preventable; their knowledge can help practitioners prevent the concomitant use of dangerous medication combinations.