A descriptive, retrospective and cross sectional study was conducted to assess the prescribing practices and antibiotic use patterns in the Accident and Emergency department of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, Pakistan. A sample of 4320 prescriptions (systematic random sampling) was drawn out of a total of 1,080,000 prescriptions written during the period 1st January-31st December 201...

Poor training of clinicians on the Rational Use Medicines (RUMs) and impact pharmaceutical promotional activities fuel irrational prescribing behavior, which is a major contributor to cost-related medication non-adherence. The aim this study was determine how RUMs related concepts influence cause This cross-sectional descriptive study, conducted among medical practitioners in South-eastern Nige...

PROBLEM BEING ADDRESSED Medication prescribing is becoming increasingly complex, and the need for formal curricula in pharmacotherapeutics and medication prescribing in accredited family medicine residency programs has been advocated. OBJECTIVE OF PROGRAM The main objective of the pharmacotherapeutic curriculum is to support the development of family medicine residents' pharmacotherapeutic kn...

BACKGROUND Self-prescribing among doctors is common, but no longitudinal studies have documented this issue. We studied the self-prescribing behaviour among young Norwegian physicians and the predictors of self-prescribing. METHODS We conducted a nationwide, prospective and longitudinal study following young Norwegian physicians from internship through the subsequent nine years using three po...

To the Editor: Hypertension is the commonest chronic disease occurring among adult South Africans. Rational prescribing and the safe use of drugs are important in the management of hypertensive patients since they are on chronic medication. The choice of antihypertensive agent(s) is equally important because drug costs contribute up to 90% of the treatment costs for hypertension. There are appa...

OBJECTIVES Antibiotic resistance (ABR) particularly hits resource poor countries, and is fuelled by irrational antibiotic (AB) prescribing. We surveyed knowledge, attitudes and practices of AB prescribing among medical students and doctors in Kisangani, DR Congo. METHODS Self-administered questionnaires. RESULTS A total of 184 questionnaires were completed (response rate 94.4%). Knowledge a...

Adverse drug events are common in older patients, particularly in those taking at least five medications, but such events are predictable and often preventable. A rational approach to prescribing in older adults integrates physiologic changes of aging with knowledge of pharmacology. Focusing on specific outcomes, such as the prompt recognition of adverse drug events, allows the family physician...