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A study of the prescribing of psychotropic drugs in a Dublin psychiatric hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Denis J Murphy ,
Miriam A. Gannon ,
Declan Fitzpatrick ,
Rajendar Kumar ,
Harry Doyle ,
James H O'Boyle  and
Aidan McGennis
Denis J Murphy
Affiliation:
Senior Registrar in Psychiatry
Harry Doyle
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Registrars
Aidan McGennis
Affiliation:
Consultant Psychiatrists
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Abstract

To date there has been no study of prescribing habits in a psychiatric hospital in Ireland, as has happened elsewhere.

In a survey over one weekend at St. Brendan's Hospital, the prescription sheets and case notes of all 772 patients were examined.

The principal findings were polypharmacy, the use of benzodiazepines for disturbingly long periods of time, the preponderant prescription of drugs by their proprietary names and the extensive use of neuroleptics for apparently non-psychotic conditions. These results are discussed in the light of other similar surveys.

Keywords

Prescriptionpsychotropic drugspsychiatric hospitalpolypharmacyneurolepticsantidepressantsbenzodiazepinesgeneric namesproprietary names
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1990 , pp. 26 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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