Assessment of prescription writing skills among dental house officers: A multi-center study.

Objective: To assess the knowledge and skills of prescription writing among dental house officers from different hospitals. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from July to September, 2022. A self-administered, structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 180 house officers from four teaching dental hospitals (n=45 each). The participants were asked to write a prescription for an adult and a pediatric patient. The prescription was evaluated according to WHO criteria. Analysis was done using SPSS v.20. Data was presented as frequencies and percentages. Results: Among the 180 participants, 42.9% were males and 57.1% were females. 33.9% participants reported prescription writing to be a difficult task. Only 36.7% participants reported to be trained in prescribing pediatric medications. None of the prescriptions completely fulfilled the WHO criteria. Doctor related information (name, address and contact no) was written by only 3.8% of the participants while 10% of the participants mentioned the patient related information (name, address and age). Dosage of the prescribed drugs was the most commonly drug-related missing parameter which was mentioned in 30% of the pediatric prescriptions and 21% of the adult prescriptions. Conclusion: There is a general lack of knowledge among the dental house officers regarding prescription writing as they were found to be unaware of the essential elements of a prescription. The findings call for an urgent change in the undergraduate teaching of prescription writing skills with special emphasis on pediatric drugs and dosage.

Managing restricted patients in acute, non-secure in-patient services: clinical, ethical and resource implications of long waits for a response from the Ministry of Justice.

AIMS AND METHOD: In-patients subject to Section 37/41 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) require permission from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for leave, transfer and discharge. This study aimed to quantify the time spent waiting for the MoJ to respond to requests, using data on restricted patients recalled to a non-forensic unit over 8 years. RESULTS: Eleven admissions were identified. The mean total time waiting for response was 95 days per admission, with an estimated cost of £40 922 per admission. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Current procedures may contribute to considerable increases in length of stay. This goes against the principles of the MHA, as non-secure services rarely provide the range of interventions which justify prolonged admission. We suggest several ways to resolve this issue, including broadening the guidance for the use of voluntary admissions and civil sections, and allowing clinicians to make decisions on leave and transfer where there is little risk.

Harnessing clinical psychiatric data with an electronic assessment tool (OPCRIT+): the utility of symptom dimensions.

Progress in personalised psychiatry is dependent on researchers having access to systematic and accurately acquired symptom data across clinical diagnoses. We have developed a structured psychiatric assessment tool, OPCRIT+, that is being introduced into the electronic medical records system of the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust which can help to achieve this. In this report we examine the utility of the symptom data being collected with the tool. Cross-sectional mental state data from a mixed-diagnostic cohort of 876 inpatients was subjected to a principal components analysis (PCA). Six components, explaining 46% of the variance in recorded symptoms, were extracted. The components represented dimensions of mania, depression, positive symptoms, anxiety, negative symptoms and disorganization. As indicated by component scores, different clinical diagnoses demonstrated distinct symptom profiles characterized by wide-ranging levels of severity. When comparing the predictive value of symptoms against diagnosis for a variety of clinical outcome measures (e.g. 'Overactive, aggressive behaviour'), symptoms proved superior in five instances (R(2) range: 0.06-0.28) whereas diagnosis was best just once (R(2):0.25). This report demonstrates that symptom data being routinely gathered in an NHS trust, when documented on the appropriate tool, have considerable potential for onward use in a variety of clinical and research applications via representation as dimensions of psychopathology.