Oluyase, AO, Raistrick, D, Hughes, E orcid.org/0000-0002-4480-0806 et al. (1 more author) (2017) Prescribers’ views and experiences of assessing the appropriateness of prescribed medications in a specialist addiction service. International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy, 39 (6). pp. 1248-1255. ISSN 2210-7703
Abstract
Background Mental and physical health problems are common in people with substance misuse problems and medications are often required in their management. Given the extent of prescribing for service users who attend specialist addiction services, it is important to consider how prescribers in this setting assess the appropriateness of service users’ prescribed medications. Objective To explore prescribers’ views and experiences of assessing the appropriateness of medications prescribed for service users coming in for treatment as well as the differences between prescribers. Setting A specialist addiction service in the North of England. Method A phenomenological approach was adopted. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four nurse prescribers and eight doctors. Data were analysed using thematic framework analysis. Main outcome measure Prescribers’ views and experiences of assessing the appropriateness of prescribed medications. Results Assessment of the appropriateness of prescribed medications involved reviewing medications, assessing risk, history-taking, involvement of service users, and comparing guideline adherence and ‘successful’ prescribing. Doctors and nurse prescribers assessed the appropriateness of medications they considered to be within their competency. Doctors provided support to nurse prescribers and general practitioners (GPs) when dealing with issues around prescribing. Conclusion Assessment of the appropriateness of prescribed medications is complex. The recent reduction in medical expertise in specialist addiction services may negatively impact on the clinical management of service users. It appears that there is a need for further training of nurse prescribers and GPs so they can provide optimal care to service users.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
Keywords: | Appropriateness; Medications; Medical prescribers; Nurse prescribers; Specialist addiction service; United Kingdom |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Healthcare (Leeds) > Nursing Mental Health (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jan 2019 13:40 |
Last Modified: | 23 Jan 2019 13:41 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer International Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s11096-017-0541-4 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:141470 |