This article studies the determinants of pharmaceutical innovation diffusion among specialists. To this end, it investigates the influences of six categories of factors—social embeddedness, socio-demography, scientific orientation, prescribing patterns, practice characteristics, and patient panel composition—on the use of new drugs for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Hungary. Here,...

BACKGROUND The irrational use of drugs was a global problem, especially in developing countries. However, there are no studies available on irrational use of drugs in rural Western China. OBJECTIVE To assess the drug prescribing patterns using World Health Organization Drug Use Indicators at village health clinics in rural areas of Western China. METHODS A total of 20 125 prescriptions were...

BACKGROUND The rational drug prescribing practice is an important health concern around the globe that not only interferes patient's life but also the socioeconomic issues. OBJECTIVE The aim of current study was to evaluate the rational use of drug, prescribing behaviour of consultant physicians, role of medical team members in irrational therapy and form the basis for providing necessary inf...

OBJECTIVE To report the frequency, types, and causes of errors associated with outpatient computer-generated prescriptions, and to develop a framework to classify these errors to determine which strategies have greatest potential for preventing them. MATERIALS AND METHODS This is a retrospective cohort study of 3850 computer-generated prescriptions received by a commercial outpatient pharmacy...

We examined the impact on physician prescribing patterns of pharmaceutical firms offering all-expenses-paid trips to popular sunbelt vacation sites to attend symposia sponsored by a pharmaceutical company. The impact was assessed by tracking the pharmacy inventory usage reports for two drugs before and after the symposia. Both drugs were available only as intravenous preparations and could be u...

Identifying the indicators of good quality medication prescribing assists physicians in preventing medication errors. This study in Riyadh city aimed to examine the relationship between physicians' self-reported influences on prescribing and the quality of their prescribing, defined as the completeness and accuracy of their prescription documentation. A sample of 600 randomly selected prescript...

Recognized issue Prescription drugs are the therapeutic backbone of clinical practice. In 2005, Canadians received 14 prescriptions per capita; that number rose to 74 for people 80 years and older.2 In 2009, the per capita cost of prescription drugs in Canada was $877. Whereas in 1985 drug expenditures accounted for less than a tenth of total health expenditures, by 2009 they amounted to almost...