Background:Drug utilisation research (DUR) evaluates drug use across various nations and regions and is used to evaluate the efficacy of the drug therapy prescription pattern. In light of this context, antipsychotic medications are assessed for prescribing patterns and cost management in mental patients at a tertiary care facility.

Materials and Methods:For six months, a retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out in the outpatient psychiatry unit of a tertiary care hospital. Psychiatric patient prescription patterns and drug costs were examined using World Health Organization (WHO) drug indicators.

Results:Among 600 prescriptions, 1708 (90.37%) were for medications with a psychoactive effect. The NLEM's utilisation rate was 41.5%. 21% of the prescriptions comprised psychotropic FDCs, with the average number of psychotropic medications per prescription being 2.84.Patterns of drug use among various psychiatric diseases – Trihexyphenidyl (15.60%), Clonazepam (22.80%), and Clonazepam (13.98%) were the most often given medications for schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders, respectively. Haloperidol (1.69%), Quetiapine (1.26%), Etizolam, and Fluoxetine (2.08%) were the medications that were prescribed the least frequently.

Conclusion:Overall, the rational prescribing principles were adhered to in accordance with the numerous drug usage indicators listed by WHO/INRUD. Due to socioeconomic factors, financial limitations, and technical challenges, several variations from the recommendations (APA and NICE) were discovered. Cost control survey for various psychiatric drugs was also conducted.

Keywords:Drug utilization, antipsychotic drugs, Prescription pattern, disordersand Cost control.