Prescribing habits for psychiatric in-patient admissions in a Nigerian psychiatric hospital.

The study evaluated the prescribing habits of psychotropic drugs in a psychiatric set-up. It revealed that neuroleptics were the most frequently prescribed psychotropic drugs, as they were given to 88% of the 170 patients placed on admission during the study period. They also formed a major part of the treatment of patients with depressive illness, where their combination with antidepressant drugs were more frequently prescribed than antidepressants alone. Depot neuroleptics were not used only as maintenance drugs or for patients with poor oral compliance, but prescribed as stat doses given once daily, in 16% of the patients. Antiparkinsonian drugs were frequently prescribed and were not necessarily commenced after the development of extrapyramidal side effects, as one-third of the patients on them had the drugs prescribed on the first day of treatment. A combination of two or more drugs, administered frequently per day was common. Prescribing instructions for pro re nate (p.r.n.) drugs were inadequate. The study highlights areas of improvement in prescribing habit over earlier studies and further reveals the ones that need to be improved especially in an economy that can least afford wastage.