Background First-year doctors found that during out-of-hours shifts they were being delayed and distracted from reviewing potentially sick/deteriorating patients by a high volume of prescribing tasks. This predominately consisted of oral anticoagulation prescribing and rewrites of drug charts. We hoped that if we could reduce this burden of "inappropriate prescribing tasks", we could not only i...

PURPOSE This study aims to assess inappropriate prescribing (IP) to elderly patients during the month prior to hospitalization and to compare different IP criteria. METHODS An observational, prospective and multicentric study was carried out in the internal medicine services of seven Spanish hospitals. Patients aged 75years and older were randomly selected after hospital admission for a year....

BACKGROUND The number of inappropriate prescriptions for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in Sudan is suspected to be high. Simple multifaceted interventions directed at prescribers may improve prescribing patterns in the Sudan. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of multifaceted interventions on prescribing for STIs in the White Nile State, Sudan. METHODS The study involved 20 health ce...

BACKGROUND This study examined trends in the prescription of benzodiazepines for the elderly (age over 65 years) in Korea, a country with a higher level of spending on pharmaceuticals compared to that in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and identified factors related to the inappropriate use of such drugs. METHODS We used the National Health Insura...

BACKGROUND Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for nonbacterial infections leads to increases in the costs of care, antibiotic resistance among bacteria, and adverse drug events. Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are the most common reason for inappropriate antibiotic use. Most prior efforts to decrease inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for ARIs (e.g., educational or informational interve...

Inappropriate prescribing (IP) in older patients is highly prevalent and is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events (ADEs), morbidity, mortality and healthcare utilisation. Consequently, IP is a major safety concern and with changing population demographics, it is likely to become even more prevalent in the future. IP can be detected using explicit or implicit prescribing indic...

PURPOSE Screening tool of older people's prescriptions (STOPP) and screening tool to alert to right treatment (START) criteria were first published in 2008. Due to an expanding therapeutics evidence base, updating of the criteria was required. METHODS We reviewed the 2008 STOPP/START criteria to add new evidence-based criteria and remove any obsolete criteria. A thorough literature review was...