Drug usage pattern of analgesics among intraoperative patients in a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

Inadequately treated surgical pain is a major clinical, social and economic concern throughout the world. The prospective observational study on drug usage pattern of analgesics among intraoperative patients was carried over a period of six months, on 150 consecutive inpatients of Anaesthesia department in a tertiary care hospital in Tamil Nadu. From the 100 cases included in the study, it was found that 25% of the cases were posted for hernioplasty. Majority of cases required a single anaesthetic agent (83%). Fentanyl was the most commonly used intraoperative analgesic agent (75%), but a combination of bupivacaine and fentanyl (37%) provided a superior quality of analgesia with a lesser need of additional analgesics. 84% of the subjects experienced no ADRs. Our study showed variations in the selection of intraoperative analgesics by different consultant anesthesiologists for patients undergoing various surgical procedures. As there are no study reports available in our country on intraoperative analgesic use for major and invasive surgeries, this study will serve to provide a data regarding the utilization pattern of intraoperative analgesics in this part of India.