OBJECTIVES Many factors are involved in the appropriate use of aminoglycosides, such as modalities of administration, drug levels monitoring and duration of treatment. We assessed prospectively the impact of an antibiotic control team on the appropriateness of prescriptions. METHODS After a first observational audit assessing the appropriateness of prescriptions, and issuing updated recommend...

BACKGROUND In more than half of elderly chronically-ill family clinic attendees, drug prescribing deviates from the internationally acknowledged STOPP/START recommendations. Our study will determine whether it is possible to improve the quality of drug prescriptions in chronically-ill elderly people living at home by regularly monitoring the prescribed drugs according to STOPP/START criteria. ...

BACKGROUND Drugs can be supplied either directly from the prescribing physician (physician dispensing [PD]) or via a pharmacy. It is unclear whether the dispensing channel is associated with quality problems. Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) is associated with adverse outcomes in older persons and can be considered a marker for quality deficits in prescribing. We investigated whether ...

KEY POINTS The 2014 UK National Review of Asthma Deaths identified potentially preventable factors in two-thirds of the medical records of cases scrutinised45% of people who died from asthma did not call for or receive medical assistance in their final fatal attackOverall asthma management, acute and chronic, in primary and secondary care was judged to be good in less than one-fifth of those wh...

We are in the midst of a global health crisis involving the spread of drug-resistant strains of a wide range of microorganisms [Levy & Marshall, 2004]. The evolution of resistance is driven by inappropriate prescription of antimicrobial drugs, the widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture, and failure by patients to complete courses of prescribed antibiotics. One recent study, for example, e...

OBJECTIVES To describe current co-cyprindiol prescribing in a large, rural general practice in England. To specifically investigate whether co-cyprindiol is prescribed within its license and Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) guidelines. To investigate the effect of a simple, low-cost intervention on the number and appropriateness of co-cyprindiol prescriptions. METHOD...