P roblems related to polypharmacy are most often associated with the elderly. It appears, however, that the number of medications prescribed per se, has only a weak influence on the health of the elderly. The phenomena of adverse drug events are found more frequently in the older population. Such terms as “inappropriate prescribing” or “potentially inappropriate prescriptions” and “adverse reac...

INTRODUCTION The appropriateness of oral anticoagulant prescriptions is a major challenge to improve quality and safety of care. As indicators of the appropriateness of oral anticoagulant prescriptions are lacking, the aim of the study is to develop and validate a panel of such indicators, in hospitalised adults, from the hospital information system of two university hospitals in France. METH...

Oxygen is widely available and commonly prescribed by medical and paramedical staff. When administered correctly it may be life saving, but oxygen is often given without careful evaluation of its potential benefits and side effects. Like any drug there are clear indications for treatment with oxygen and appropriate methods of delivery. Inappropriate dose and failure to monitor treatment can hav...

OBJECTIVES The potential consequences of medication misuse in renal impairment have not been assessed in a population of in-patients. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency and potential consequences of a lack of dosage adjustment in hospitalized patients with renal impairment. DESIGN Order sheets for in-patients having a creatinine above 0.7 mg/dl were analysed. We consider...

Purpose: To evaluate the prescribing pattern of clinicians in the general outpatient unit of the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano (AKTH),. Methods: This was a descriptive retrospective study conducted using 500 prescriptions made at the general outpatient unit of AKTH between April and July 2009. Results: A total of 497 prescriptions were successfully analyzed. The average number of drugs per...

background: in-depth knowledge of antibiotic principles is widely considered a necessary condition for appropriate prescribing of antibiotics. the study aimed at determining the impact of healthcare providers’ level of knowledge in bacteriology and principles of antibiotic prescribing on their abilities to prescribe antibiotics appropriately. methods: a structured questionnaire survey targeting...

BACKGROUND MRI is a new and expensive diagnostic technology, which has been used increasingly all over the world. Low back pain is a worldwide prevalent disorder and MRI technique is one of the several ways to diagnose it. This paper aims to identify the appropriateness of lumbar spine MRI prescriptions in Shiraz teaching hospitals using standardized RAND Appropriateness Method (RAM) criteria i...