Assessment of acid suppressant drug use in current clinical practice and patient satisfaction analysis

Background: There was limited data on assessment of quality of life in patients reporting breakthrough symptoms of acid related illness, as well as their responses to recommended adjunctive measures. Objective: To identify appropriateness of acid suppressant drugs in hospitalized patients and to gain a better understanding of attitudes towards PPIs and H2 receptor blockers and usage patterns of these agents in individuals prescribed for acid related illness. Materials and Methods: The present study was carried out for a period of 6 months among 400 patients prescribed with ASDs by following prospective observational design. A cross sectional questionnaire survey was also carried out to assess patient satisfaction regarding use of ASDs. Results: Ranitidine was the most prescribed drug (54.75%). Most of patients received only one ASDs (72.75%) than two ASDs (25.55%) in dosage form such as injection (52.5%) and tablet (22.75%) respectively. The clinical study carried out in 100 participants to assess the patient satisfaction regarding the use of ASDs showed 67% of respondents reported use of drug less than once a week who were taking once a day (64%) regimen mostly. The condition for which physician prescribed acid suppressant drugs was heartburn (33%). 97% of them used non-prescription remedy without any recommendation. 79% of them do not use both acid suppressant drugs and non-prescription remedy on same day for which 74% of patient got proper advise to use the drugs. Conclusion: We found the overuse and underuse of acid suppressant drugs in study hospital. There is a need for a local protocol for rational use of these agents in current clinical practice. Our study also highlighted the satisfaction of patient after the use of these agents.