EAPS, Barcelona, Spain, 7 - 11 October 2022, pp.2254-2255
BACKGROUND AND AIM
Effective medication use plays important role in neonates. However, drug
therapies are complex in neonates with vulnerability due to developmental
immaturity. Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) patients also have a high drug
burden. The purpose of this study was to investigate at drug use in a NICU
in Turkey and to examine the possible relationship between gestational age,
length of stay with prescribed medicine count.
METHODS
This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in the NICU unit of
Tinaztepe University, School of Medicine hospital. Clinical data were retrieved
from the electronic health record system of the hospital. All prescribed
medicine is classified according to the third level of the ATC system. Drugdrug
interactions (DDI) were analyzed and classified with the Lexi database.
Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS 25.
RESULTS
The average number of prescribed medicines per patient was 5.5. The most
prescribed drugs belonged to anti-infectives for systemic use, and alimentary
tract and metabolism drugs. The number of prescribed drugs negatively correlated
with gestational age and birth weight. There was a positive correlation
between the number of drugs and length of stay. Our analysis revealed most
DDIs were associated with antibiotics.There was no link between the quantity
of drugs used and the number of caesarean sections.
CONCLUSIONS
Clinical pharmacy services in NICU are still not implemented in Turkey.Further
multi-center prospective studies in NICU about drug utilization will help to
identify risk factors for drug related problems and the the role of clinical
pharmacy.