A prescription for better prescribing: Summary of responses

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7568.601-a

BMJ 2006;333:601 (16 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7568.601-a

Letter

A prescription for better prescribing

Summary of responses

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Many of the 18 other responses to the editorial by Aronson etal (mainly from UK based doctors and pharmacists) emphasisedthe importance of teamwork and communication as key to improvingprescribing.¹ The dean of the University of East Anglia MedicalSchool, Sam Leinster, and his pharmacology lecturer colleagueYoon Loke were, however, concerned that the editorial had drawnconclusions about the quality of teaching before the data hadbeen collected and evaluated.

Proposed solutions to the perceived problem include drawingon the skills of (clinical) pharmacists or nurse practitioners;separating the disciplines of diagnosis and prescription andusing two different professionals ("diagnosticians" and "therapeuts");using prescribing advisers in primary care trusts or speciallytrained clinical pharmacologists; gaining additional postgraduatecertifications; making decision aids available through informationtechnology, on personal digital assistants, or in the shapeof the (electronic) BNF or Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin...The list goes on: . . . [Full text of this article]

Birte Twisselmann, assistant editor (web)

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A prescription for better prescribing: Jeffrey K Aronson, Graeme Henderson, David J Webb, and Michael D Rawlins
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