Analysis and Management Countermeasures of Off-label Drug Use in Outpatient Prescriptions

OBJECTIVE To investigate off-label drug use in outpatient, and provide references for the standardization management of off-label drug use to promote rational clinical use of drugs. METHODS According to drug instructions, off-label prescriptions collected from the outpatient department of the branch hospital in August 2014 were analyzed statistically in seven aspects such as indications, suitable groups, dosage, frequency, solvent, route of administration and contraindications. The rationality was evaluated according to clinical guidelines, expert consensus, evidence-based medicine or literature. The management countermeasures were proposed. RESULTS In this investigation, 1 866 off-label prescriptions were found, accounting for 18.69% of all prescriptions, and there were 3 972 off-label medication records, accounting for 15.52% of the total records. “Not mentioned pediatric drug information” was the commonest type of the off-label drug use, accounting for 53%, followed by frequency(17.55%), dosage(10.70%) and age(9.09%), etc. CONCLUSION Off-label drug use is basically reasonable in our hospital. In order to guarantee the safety of patients in medication, the hospital should strengthen the standardized management of off-label drug use.