A Study to Determine Which Drugs Were Most Frequently Ordered on the Medical-Surgical Services of a Selected Hospital

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

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Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/f7623c83c

Abstract

This study was done to determine -which drugs were most frequently ordered on the medical-surgical services of a selected hospital and to classify these drugs according to their predominate physiological action. The normative survey method with classification as the technique was used in the study. The data were obtained from 5,645 medicine cards collected over a twelve week period. Drugs listed on the medicine cards were classified into ten broad classes. The drugs were then further categorized according to physiological action and/or drug characteristics. In most instances these categories were further subdivided into individual or pure drugs and those drugs in combination. The data revealed that central nervous system depressants with 2,349 orders, the anti-infective drugs with 1,113 orders, drugs acting on smooth muscle with 6l6 orders, and drugs acting on the gastrointestinal tract with 585 orders, comprised a combined total of 4,663 orders, or 82.6 per cent of the total number of drug orders, and in terms of the broad classes of drugs, represented the most frequently ordered drugs on the medical-surgical services of the selected hospital.

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