Rational prescribing is important in all settings

Rational prescribing is important in all settings

The importance of rational prescribing in low-income and lower-middle-income countries is highlighted by the paper published by Risk and colleagues. The authors evaluated the prescribing practices of health professionals treating children under the age of 5 years in 20 different public health centres in The Gambia. There were over 300 young children seen with diarrhoea, and a similar number see...

antibiotic prescribing review: rational or irrational therapy?

Promoting Rational Drug Prescribing in General Practice

Vægter, K. 2013. Promoting Rational Drug Prescribing in General Practice. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis. Digital Comprehensive Summaries of Uppsala Dissertations from the Faculty of Medicine 858. 64 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 978-91-554-8582-5. Aims: To introduce the concepts “quality assurance”, “rational drug prescribing” and “outreach visits” in general practice in Storstrøm County, Denmark and stud...

Rational approach to electronic fetal monitoring during labour in 'all' resource settings

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) involves the use of cardiotocograph (CTG) to asses fetal wellbeing during labour in order to detect intrapartum fetal hypoxia early so as to institute timely and appropriate action. Indeed, when CTG was introduced into obstetric practice in the 1960s, it was expected to prevent perinatal brain injury and reduce the incidence of short term (neonatal admissions, ...

Prescribing: what's all the fuss?

BACKGROUND Prescribing is a commonly used skill which has until recently been poorly taught in medical school curricula. This is despite the fact that there are a number of proven approaches to teaching better prescribing. OBJECTIVE The WHO Guide to Good Prescribing is discussed, with an example elaborating the steps involved in the process. DISCUSSION Central to this approach is the develo...