Prescribing review

When reviewing your prescribing practices, ensure you evidence that your prescribing is effective and efficient, that you reflect on the different types of information available to you concerning prescribing, and reflect on making appropriate changes.

Good prescribing practice has been defined as:

• Safe (avoidance of high risk unless clearly justified)
• Effective (is there evidence that the drug works?)
• Necessary (is the condition likely to benefit from treatment?)
• Most cost effective choice (all other factors being equal, choose the cheapest)
• Following recognised peer guidance (formularies or other consensus statements)

You may choose to submit evidence of one or more of the following types:

1. Analyse your PRISMS data, with description of changes resulting from the analysis.
2. Analyse other prescribing data, with description of changes resulting from the analysis.
3. Describe a significant event that has occurred in your practice, involving a prescribing issue. Describe changes resulting from the analysis. This could be development of a practice protocol / policy / guideline / management plan.
4. Write up an audit, involving a prescribing issue, with description of changes resulting from the analysis. This could be development of a practice protocol / policy / guideline / management plan.

Your analysis needs to clearly demonstrate that you have considered current prescribing practice, and taken steps to change it if necessary.

Care should be taken to ensure that all aspects of the situation are considered.  For instance, it would not be sufficient to present a significant event in which a drug was not available when needed, and conclude that you now keep it.  You could, however, revise or develop a system for ensuring that all emergency drug requirements are reviewed, and all required drugs are available and in-date, in your situation.

The following pages will take you through some suggestions for gathering supporting information on prescribing.