Pattern of Pre-Anesthetic Medications Used In Various Surgical Specialties in A Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Most of the surgeries done in our country under anesthesia are mostly at urban region and very low number at remote areas. Even those surgeries done under anesthesia do not receive proper premedication. Pre-anesthetic medicine has been linked to a variety of outcomes, including postoperative recovery time, the need for postoperative analgesia, and hospital stay. Yet, we have very less data regarding the patterns of use of drugs for premedication. Methods: It is a cross-sectional descriptive study performed in the department of Anesthesiology at KIST Medical College and Teaching Hospital from 15th Feb 2022 till 14th Feb 2023, after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Committee. The total sample size was 385 which were calculated using Cochrane formula. All the patients who belonged to American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I-III undergoing elective surgical procedures and administered premedication were selected for the study only after their informed written consent. Results: Out of 496 cases, 385 (53.8%) of patients were selected and pre-medications were recorded. The premedication used were metoclopramide 375 (97.4%), pantoprazole 375 (97.4%), paracetamol 52 (13.5%), glycopyrrolate 26 (6.75%), pregabalin 21 (5.45%), alprazolam 20 (5.19%), and lorazepam 1 (0.25%).  Types of surgeries categorizations were 59.22 % general surgery, 17.92 % Gynecological and Obstetrics, 17.14 % Orthopedic cases, 4.67 % ENT and 1.04 % dental cases. Conclusion: The most commonly administered pre-anesthetic drugs were metoclopramide, pantoprazole, paracetamol, pregabalin, alprazolam and then lorazepam.