Prescribing Practice in a Psychiatric Unit

Abstract

An analysis of the general results of a drug monitor in a psychiatric unit have been reported previously (Gardiner and Hall, 1971). One of the principal findings of that analysis was that the propensity for ‘untoward events' increased as the number of drugs that a patient received increased. The definition of ‘untoward event’ was that given by Finney (1965)—a‘n event is a particular untoward happening experienced by a patient, undesirable either generally or in the context of his disease. The term is not to be limited either to recognised side-effects of a drug or to incidents that are in some sense unexpected’. This paper takes this particular aspect of the investigation further in an attempt to describe the prescribing practice and to discover any particular drug or combination of drugs that was associated with a high frequency of ‘untoward events'.