Resistance to antibiotics is a worldwide concern and community pharmacies can play a strategic role in controlling this issue through rationalizing antibiotic consumption. Considering that dispensing any type of antibiotics without a prescription is prohibited in according to Iran’s regulations, this study was conducted to quantify the rate of antibiotic dispensing without a prescription by pha...

BACKGROUND Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in the past has been used in one of five women but not without significant short-term and long-term consequences. Objective. The aim of the study is to assess the prescription of HRT in general practice to women consulting with menopausal symptoms, before and after publication of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study (2002), the Million Women Stu...

The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) released new fluid guidelines following data suggesting 20% of patients receiving fluids suffer adversely (2013). This quality improvement group assessed fluid prescribing in a tertiary teaching centre and introduced a new fluid- prescribing chart to align practice with NICE recommendations. Notes and corresponding fluid prescription charts w...

The objective of this study was to assess appropriate thromboprophylaxis prescription rates in a university hospital and to re-audit after a series of interventions. The notes of all acute medical patient admissions over a 4-week period were assessed for VTE risk factors and prescription of thromboprophylaxis. Subsequently, a series of hospital wide interventions including educational initiativ...

oxygen concentration of 24% equates to 2 l/min; concentrations of 24%-35% with 2 l/min have been described. The prescription of oxygen is complex, and a drug Kardex does not accommodate the precise details required for the variety of delivery devices. This was clearly shown in the second audit, where the accuracy of the prescription was greater with the chart than with the drug Kardex. We have ...

OBJECTIVE Physical activity (PA) prescriptions provided by family physicians can promote PA participation among patients, but few physicians regularly write PA prescriptions. The objective of this study was to describe family physicians' experiences of trying to implement written PA prescriptions into their practice. DESIGN Longitudinal qualitative study where participants were interviewed fo...

BACKGROUND Whether long-term benzodiazepine users who participate in a family practice-based benzodiazepine discontinuation programme substitute benzodiazepines by other psychotropics is not clear. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of a benzodiazepine discontinuation programme on non-benzodiazepine psychotropic prescription in family practice. METHODS In family practices in the Netherlands, ...

OBJECTIVE This study examined trends in the prescription of antipsychotic drugs in a nationally representative sample of physicians in nonfederal office-based clinical practice during the 1990s. METHODS The authors analyzed physician-reported data from annual National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys between 1989 and 1997 using weighted national estimates of physician visits during which antip...

BACKGROUND Haemodialysis patients were studied in 12 countries to identify practice patterns of prescription of antihypertensive agents (AHA) associated with survival. METHODS The sample included 28 513 patients enrolled in DOPPS I and II. The classes of AHA studied were beta blocker (BB), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI), angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB), peripheral blocker, ...