High-risk drugs prescribed to vulnerable patients
Wednesday 22nd June 2011
Thousands of patients in Scotland who are known to be at risk of adverse drug effects have been prescribed high risk drugs by their general practitioners, according to research.
According to the Dundee University researchers, adverse drug effects make up 6.5 per cent of all hospital admissions, more than half of which are preventable.
The study, published on BMJ.com found that 13.9 per cent of these high risk patients were prescribed drugs which could potentially cause them harm, with significant variation in prescription practises among the surgeries they looked at.
Authors concluded that the study show "that opportunities to improve primary care prescribing safety are considerable" across the UK.
Meanwhile, more than 50 health and social care organisations have called for a review of the distribution anti-psychotic drugs by those in pharmacy jobs.
It is believed that long-term use of these drugs can actually worsen symptoms, impact on mobility and even cause patients to die.
Posted by Megan Smith
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