Prescribing patterns and drug cost among cardiovascular patients in Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

A prevalence study was conducted, measuring drug cost and prescribing patterns of clinicians treating cardiovascular patients in UKM Hospital (HUKM). One Hundred and thirty-five patients' case-notes were selected from the Case-Mix database of HUKM. The average and median number of drugs prescribed per patient was 7.56 (+/- 3.37) and 7.0 (+/- 3) respectively. Generic drug prescription rate was still low (45.2%). Significant relationship was observed between generic drug prescriptions with age of patients, types of wards and different levels of clinicians' training. Younger patients, admitted to Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and Cardiology Rehabilitation Ward (CRW) were more likely to be prescribed with branded drugs. Lower generic drugs prescription and higher cost of drugs were mostly practised by Consultants. CCU and CRW wards were the only predictor to having low generic drugs prescriptions. Ninety-nine percent of the total RM28,879.25 drug cost was used to purchase branded drugs. Mean drug cost for a patient is RM213.92 (+/- RM333.36) and median cost is RM102.46 (+/- RM240.51). Higher drug cost and its' predictors were patients with severity level II and III, length of stay of > or = 6 days, number of drugs types of > or = 7, generic drugs prescription rate < 50% and patients admitted in CCU and CRW wards. This study is important for short and long-term decision-making, controlling of providers behaviour and resources.