An audit of generic prescribing in a General Surgical Department

Background: A generic prescribing policy exists within the HSE in line with international best practice but rates of generic prescribing can be quite low. Instead, potentially much more expensive tradename drugs are commonly being prescribed. Aims: To perform an audit of a surgical department in the Mid West Regional Hospital (MWRH) to assess the level of generic prescribing taking place for general surgical in-patients and to identify any potential costs that could be saved with better adherence to generic prescribing policy. Methods: 360 Surgical in-patient charts were obtained at the point of discharge and their drug cardex info was recorded. Results: 842 of 1,705 prescriptions written involved a trade-name prescription where an appropriate generic equivalent existed. The cost implications for hospital and community patients were found to be greatly affected by substitution policies that exist at hospital pharmacy level. Conclusion: There is a need to promote greater adherence to generic prescribing amongst hospital doctors in line with international best practice. It can have a positive impact in terms of safe prescribing and can have cost implications at both hospital and community level. Conflict of interest: None Disclosures: None.