BACKGROUND The recently introduced oral direct anticoagulants (ODAs), presumably safer, and with comparable efficacy to the vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), may reshape the world of anticoagulation medicine. This study aimed to assess the prescription appropriateness of ODAs and VKAs at discharge from hospital. METHODS We performed a one year retrospective study between August 2012 and July 2013...

Background Irrational prescription is strongly associated with poor control of hypertension. The present study aimed to evaluate antihypertensive drug prescription trends and to measure their impact on the level of blood pressure (BP) control in Gondar University Hospital, Gondar, Ethiopia. Methods A hospital-based retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from May 30 to June 30, 2016...

Introduction: In hospitals, an optimum drug dispensing (DD) is involved in the quality of health services and the prevention of medication errors. This study aims to describe the features of hospital DD in Cote d’Ivoire in order to suggest improvements. Methodology: The site visit (risk management method) was conducted at hospital pharmacies (HP) of the three teaching hospitals in Abidjan. A se...

OBJECTIVES To assess the use of prophylactic antibiotics for cesarean section, and to identify factors associated with a doctor's intraoperative prescription. DESIGN A hospital-based, cross-sectional study. STUDY PARTICIPANTS All 967 medical records of women undergoing cesarean section from January 1998 to February 1999 in a university hospital, Southern Thailand. MAIN MEASURES Independen...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to examine socioeconomic variations in the use of prescription medicines among elderly subjects with COPD. METHODS Data from the Danish national administrative registers were used. The study population included 1,365 individuals >60 y old residing in the Municipality of Copenhagen and diagnosed with COPD in a hospital setting in 2007. Logistic regressi...

Objective We applied a program of sleep education and hypnotics reduction for inpatients (the i-sleep program). This study explored whether the i-sleep program is effective for reducing the prescription rate of sleeping pills to inpatients in a general hospital. Methods We estimated the proportion of inpatients prescribed hypnotics at admission to and discharge from the hospital, excluding pe...

OBJECTIVES To assess the impact of physician awareness to promote the prescription and the dispensing of generic drugs at hospital discharge. METHODS The study consisted in a Before/After Study design including the analysis of medical prescriptions at hospital discharge, after a pharmaceutical intervention to physicians in a geriatric ward. Each drug was classified according to its terms of p...

Introduction. Acute pharyngotonsillitis accounts for a large portion of antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric offces. Our aim was to analyze the antimicrobial prescription habits for acute pharyngotonsillitis in children from hospital emergency departments and primary care pediatric clinics in Asturias (Spain). Methods. Multicenter descriptive study evaluating pediatric patients with a diagnosi...

BACKGROUND The knowledge about the pattern of prescription and consumption of solid oral drugs dispensed as unitary doses (UD) in Mexico is sparing. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of prescription and consumption of solid oral drugs dispensed as unitary doses (UD) in a third level private hospital of Mexico. A retrospective study of a 60-month period (from 2007 to 20...

OBJECTIVE Appropriate use of antibiotics in the management of hospitalised patients with COPD exacerbations is defined within the GOLD strategy. This paper analyses the factors associated with antibiotic prescribing in patients to better understand how prescribing may be improved. METHODS The European COPD audit was a study of clinical care in 384 hospitals from 13 European countries between ...