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Authors are the souls of any journal, and deserve much respect. To publish a journal manuscripts are needed from authors. Authors have a great responsibility for producing facts of their work in terms of number and results truthfully and an individual honesty is expected from authors in this regards. Both ways its true "No authors-No manuscripts-No journals" and "No journals–No manuscripts–No authors". Reviewing a manuscript is also a very responsible and important task of any peer-reviewed journal and to be taken seriously. It needs knowledge on the subject, sincerity, honesty and determination. Although the process of reviewing a manuscript is a time consuming task butit is expected to give one's best remarks within the time frame of the journal.
Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
Timely publication of journal: Publication of manuscripts and bringing out the issue in time is one of the positive aspects of JCDR and is possible with strong support team in terms of peer reviewers, proof reading, language check, computer operators, etc. This is one of the great reasons for authors to submit their work with JCDR. Another best part of JCDR is "Online first Publications" facilities available for the authors. This facility not only provides the prompt publications of the manuscripts but at the same time also early availability of the manuscripts for the readers.
Indexation and online availability: Indexation transforms the journal in some sense from its local ownership to the worldwide professional community and to the public.JCDR is indexed with Embase & EMbiology, Google Scholar, Index Copernicus, Chemical Abstracts Service, Journal seek Database, Indian Science Abstracts, to name few of them. Manuscriptspublished in JCDR are available on major search engines ie; google, yahoo, msn.
In the era of fast growing newer technologies, and in computer and internet friendly environment the manuscripts preparation, submission, review, revision, etc and all can be done and checked with a click from all corer of the world, at any time. Of course there is always a scope for improvement in every field and none is perfect. To progress, one needs to identify the areas of one's weakness and to strengthen them.
It is well said that "happy beginning is half done" and it fits perfectly with JCDR. It has grown considerably and I feel it has already grown up from its infancy to adolescence, achieving the status of standard online e-journal form Indian continent since its inception in Feb 2007. This had been made possible due to the efforts and the hard work put in it. The way the JCDR is improving with every new volume, with good quality original manuscripts, makes it a quality journal for readers. I must thank and congratulate Dr Hemant Jain, Editor-in-Chief JCDR and his team for their sincere efforts, dedication, and determination for making JCDR a fast growing journal.
Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."
Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011
Dr. Shankar P.R.
"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."
Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011 Anuradha
Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.
Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020
Original article / research
Full Version
Prescription Pattern in the Department Of Medicine of a Tertiary Care Hospital in South India
Correspondence Address :
Hasamnis AA,Faculty of Medicine, AIMST University,Semeling, Sungai Petani, Kedah,Malaysia, 08100.E-mail: ameyadoc@rediffmail.com,Phone No.: +60175044972,Fax No:+6044298000
The study was carried out to find the prescribing behaviour in the medicine out-patient department of a tertiary care hospital in Rajahmundry, India. Prescriptions of 608 patients were collected over a period of 1 month. The analysis indicated that 57.7 % of drugs prescribed had no mention in the National and State Essential Drug List. Moreover the use of antibiotics (57.24%) and fixed dose combinations of various drugs (32.57%) was comparatively more as compared to earlier studies done in India. Irrational prescribing of drugs is a major health concern in developing countries like India. High power salesmanship also plays a key role in the prescribing behaviour of doctors. There is always scope for improving the prescribing habitsof clinicians.
Prescription pattern, Essential Drug List, Fixed Dose Combinations, Generic names.
Introduction
Medically inappropriate, ineffective and non-economical use of pharmaceutical products is commonly observed in the health care system throughout the world and especially so in developing counties. Inappropriate prescription increases the cost of medical treatment and increases morbidity and mortality. The impact of irrational prescription of drugs also leads to an increase in the incidence of adverse drug events and the emergence of drug resistance. The rational use of drugs requires the patients to receive medicines appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their own individual requirements, for an adequate period of time and at the lowest cost. Rational prescribing forms the corner stone of successful implementation of the rational use of drugs [1-2].
It has been observed in many countries that the main thrust of prescribing drugs has shifted from the list of essential drugs, procurement systems, and quality of drugs to the big problem of irrational prescribing. Prescribing drugs is an essential skill, which is required to be continuously assessed and refined accordingly. It not only reflects the physician’s knowledge of pharmacology and pathophysiology but also his/her skill in diagnosis and attitude towards selecting the most appropriate treatment. The rational prescribing skills of clinicians can be assessed by conducting periodic prescription audits. In a teaching hospital as the medical teachers are the role models for the students ,the prescribing behaviour of the teachers can affect the students. These audits and studies can also influence the policy makers by informing them about the quality of drug use in the health facility [2-5].
The production of pharmaceutical preparations in India is grossly diverse. There are several drug companies, with thousands of generic preparations and all the preparations have different brand names. There is fierce competition in the pharmaceutical market and this affects the prescribers to a certain extent.
There is an urgent need to ensure that patients are always given evidence-based, cost-effective and rational treatments. Therefore the present study was planned to understand the prescription pattern in the department of General Medicine at GSL Medical College Hospital located in Rajahmundry, India and thereby to determine whether there is a need for an educational intervention (6),(7),(8),(9).
A cross sectional study was conducted in the Out Patient Department of General Medicine, at GSL Medical College Hospital, Rajahmundry, India from 1st February 2007 to 1st March 2007. Institutional Ethical Committee permission was taken before the start of the study. A verbal consent to note down the drugs prescribed to patients was taken from each patient before collecting the data. The names of the patients and prescribing doctors were kept confidential throughout the study. Prescriptions were collected and the data was recorded from new patients of either sex coming to the Medicine OPD on a prescribing encounter form. Referral prescriptions and prescriptions of seriously ill patients were excluded from the study. On an average 20 prescriptions were collected daily in a random fashion. CIMS drug manual was used to decode the brand name of drugs to generic names for the purpose of analysis.
Statistical Analysis
SPSS software version 13 was used to analyse the data obtained from the study.
A total of 608 prescriptions were analysed during the study period. The total number of drugs which were prescribed to the patients was 1826. Each patient on an average was prescribed 3 drugs per prescriptions.
It was observed that out of the 1826 drugs which were prescribed to the patients only 26 (1.42%) were of generic form.
The top three clinical conditions for which drugs were prescribed included cough, cold and pain (237, 39%) followed by antibiotics for infections excluding respiratory tract infections (158, 26%) and then drugs for cardiovascular and related metabolic diseases like hypertension and diabetes mellitus (73, 12%).
A total of 348 (57.24%) people were prescribed one or more antibiotics during the study period. Out of the 348 antibiotic prescriptions 202 (58.04%) were for respiratory tract infections. 73(20.97%) were for gastrointestinal tract related infections and the rest of the prescriptions were for other infections.
A total of 198 (32.57%) fixed dose combination prescriptions were recorded during the study period. The top three fixed dose combinations used were for cough, cold and fever (79, 39.89%) followed by analgesic and muscle relaxant fixed dose combinations (59, 29.79%) followed by antibiotic combinations (40, 20.20%).
It was also noted that out of the 608 prescriptions studied, 450 (66.61%) had at least one multivitamin, iron or tonic prescribed. In 300 (66.66%) prescriptions the rationale behind adding of such multivitamin or other tonic preparations was not justified.
It was seen that out of the 608 prescriptions studied only 13 (2.13%) had injectable drugs prescribed. Out of the 13 injectable prescriptions ,4(30.76%) had analgesic drugs, 3(23.07%) had antipyretic drugs, 2(15.38%) had tetanus toxoid, 1 prescription (7.69%) had parental iron prescription.
It was also observed that 82 (41%) patients were prescribed H2 inhibitor followed by (63, 31.5%) prescriptions for proton pump inhibitors, (42, 21%) prescriptions for chewable antacid tablets and (13, 6.5%)advised liquid antacid preparations (Table/Fig 1), (Table/Fig 2).
In emerging markets like those in India, the impact of high power salesmanship is enormous and a number of” me too” drugs are available. It is observed generally that doctors often are influenced by pharmaceutical companies for prescribing drugs and the patient who is at the receiving end of the spectrum bears the cost of expensive and inappropriate medical treatment most of the time Irrational prescription of drugs is a major concern in India and in many other developing countries. This in the long term can jeopardize the health status of people and the health economics of the country itself (1),(2) , (10).
The distribution of different categories of drugs in the prescriptions analyzed in this study provided an insight into the prescribing behaviour of the physicians in a tertiary care hospital in Southern India. When a patient is critically ill and diagnosis is not confirmed at the time of admission to the tertiary care hospital, empirical polypharmacy may be required. But it is always preferable to keep the mean number of drugs per prescription as low as possible to reduce the cost of treatment and to minimize adverse effects & drug interactions. In this study it was observed that the average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was in accordance with similar studies done in India and in other developing countries and that the final figure was acceptable and was within the limit as per the WHO guidelines as reported by Kanakambal et al.(6),(11),(12),(13).
The Indian pharmaceutical sector is considered as one of the biggest suppliers of generic medicines in the world. In the present study, the prescriptions with generic pharmaceutical formulations were negligible and this finding was in fact contradictory to the findings of earlier studies done, where generic formulations were used to an extent of 37 to 94 %. (1), (7), (12), (13), (16).
The most common reasons for not prescribing generic drugs were
1. Doubt about efficacy and bioavailability of generic formulations.
2. Prescribers’ ignorance about the price variations between generic and branded drugs.
3. Lack of information on the availability of generic formulations from pharmaceutical companies.
It was observed that the usage of antibiotics was high in the present study as compared to similar studies done in India. The majority of antibiotic usage was for upper respiratory tract infections and gastrointestinal tract infections. It would be worth while examining further the causes of such high use of antibiotics in the GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, India(8),(11),(12),(13),(14),(15).Still, considering the cost effectiveness and serious problems of development of resistance, their indiscriminate use should be restricted.
A more rational approach was observed in the present study with respect to the use of parenteral drug formulations in comparison to other studies done in India and in Nepal (12), (17), (18) .The use was with in the acceptable limit of less than 6% as stated in the previous studies (12),(19).
There were only 12% and 6.40% of fixed drug combinations that were prescribed from the essential drug lists of WHO & India respectively.(20) The use of drugs from the essential drug list should be promoted for optimal use of limited financial resources, to have acceptable safety and to satisfy the health needs of the majority of the population. This trend was not observed in earlier studies where 80% of the drugs used were in accordance with the Essential Drug List (10),(11),(12).
The percentage of fixed dose combinations used was higher than earlier reports from other cities in India. A detailed analysis of the prescriptions may throw light on the rationality of the combination-drugs prescribed (10),(11),(12),(13).
Limitations of the Study
1. No categorization of prescribers was taken into consideration (Junior / Senior residents, lecturers, Associate professors, Professors).
2. It represented a limited population of patients.
3. The time period of the study was limited (1 month)
This study indicates that there is scope for improving the prescribing habits of clinicians in the present study by educational intervention. Rational prescription of drugs should be made a part of medical education at the sundergraduate and post graduate levels with emphasis on integrated problem based pharmacotherapeutic teaching. It is also important to form Drug and Therapeutic Committees to formulate and standardise drug policy, conduct regular audits and to keep a check on the undue influence of high power salesmanship.
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