Interaction between drugs constitutes a frequent cause of adverse drug reaction. The aim of this study, was to provide an analysis of potential drug interactions. The study groups were 225 patients from the dialysis unit and 519 patients from the heart failure centre. Discharge prescriptions from the two units were collected for six months during 2011. In the heart failure centre, 74% of patien...

The timely article by Verdoux & Begaud ́ hopefully begins to redress the imbalance between randomised controlled trials and other ways of evaluating drug treatments. I would like to present further evidence for the ‘gap between guidelines and utilisation . . . for psychotropic medications’ (Verdoux & Begaud, 2004). ́ Using the Drug Report of the German Public Health Insurance (Schwabe & Pfaffrath...

Purpose: To explore the influence of pharmacist factors on prescription decisions of physicians. Methods: A survey of literature was carried out across online databases and 12 relevant articles were identified. The influence of pharmacist factors on physician prescription decisions was identified in the articles. A conceptual model for investigating pharmacist factors that influence physicians’...

Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMP) are statewide databases that collect data on prescription of controlled substances. New York State mandates prescribers to consult the PDMP registry before prescribing a controlled substance such as opioid analgesics. The effect of mandatory PDMP on opioid drug prescriptions by dentists is not known. This study investigates the impact of mandatory PD...

The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence and describe the characteristics of pDDIs (potential drug-drug interactions) in medical prescriptions of hospitalized surgical patients. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed 370 medical prescriptions from the surgery unit of a Mexican public teaching hospital. The identification and classification of potential drug-drug interaction...

In 1975 the World Health Assembly requested the Director-General to advise Member States on the selection and procurement of essential drugs corresponding to their national health needs. We report here the results of a study of the prescribing patterns and rational drug utilization of medical practitioners of Pune, an industrial city in the west of India, which was undertaken by analysing their...

Nearly one third of intravenous drug prescriptions on a neonatal unit were for doses less than one tenth of a single drug vial. Tenfold drug errors in prescribing are well documented and with the continued use of vials containing adult size doses, great potential exists for serious administration errors.

BACKGROUND In view of the multiple co-morbidities, the elderly patients receiving drugs are prone to suffer with drug interactions since they receive a greater number of drugs. OBJECTIVE The study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of drug interactions, as well as their predictors. METHODS The prescriptions of a total of 1510 inpatients were collected prospectively for 1.5 years fro...

OBJECTIVE To determine the extent of use of unlicensed and off label drugs in children in hospital in five European countries. DESIGN Prospective study of drugs administered to children in general paediatric medical wards over four weeks. SETTING Children's wards in five hospitals (one each in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands). SUBJECTS Children aged 4 days ...

The timely article by Verdoux & Begaud ́ hopefully begins to redress the imbalance between randomised controlled trials and other ways of evaluating drug treatments. I would like to present further evidence for the ‘gap between guidelines and utilisation . . . for psychotropic medications’ (Verdoux & Begaud, 2004). ́ Using the Drug Report of the German Public Health Insurance (Schwabe & Pfaffrath...