Drug utilization research was defined by WHO in 1977 as the "marketing, distribution, prescription and the use of drugs in the society with special emphasis on the resulting medical, social and economic consequences". Drug utilization plays a significant role in helping the health-care system to understand, interpret and improve the prescribing administration and use of medications. Drug utilization research provides insight to different aspects of drug use and drug prescribing such as pattern of use, quality of use and outcomes of drug use. The objective of this study is to assess the prescribing and utilization pattern of antibiotics prescribed to the patients with LRTI admitted in Pediatric Department. A Prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee of Bapuji Pharmacy College, Davangere. Data of pediatric patients collected from the Pediatric ward were included in the study. The collected data was analyzed using Microsoft excel. The DDD/1000 inhabitants/day was also calculated. The medication order problem like possible drug-drug interaction is also evaluated. In our study a total of 150 patients were enrolled. Out of the 150 cases, 88patients (58.67%) were males and 62 patients (41.33%) were females. Pneumonia cases (97) were found to be more when compared to all other forms of LRTI.The most commonly found associated illness was anaemia.The average number of antibiotics per prescription was 1.23 and the average hospital stay was 5.7±2.3 days. The mostly prescribed antibiotic was Amoxicillin followed by Ceftriaxone. Most of the drugs were prescribed through parenteral route. That is, 96.22% of the drugs were prescribed through parenteral route and 3.78% were prescribed through oral route. Out of the 150 cases only 14 cases were subjected for performing culture sensitivity test. In our study, a total of 38 interactions were found. In that 4 major, 9 moderate and 25 minor interactions were found. The PDD and DDD of the antibiotics were also compared. Drug utilization studies have the potential to make objective evaluation and analysis of health professionals work and provide them with feedback to stimulate thinking about their practice and looking for ways to improve their own performance. These studies should become a method of increasing job satisfaction and means of education for health professionals, rather than being perceived as threat or another bureaucratic burden.
