The Psychiatrist (1995) 19: 155-157. doi: 10.1192/pb.19.3.155
© 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Harborne, G.
Right arrow Articles by Tudor, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Harborne, G.
Right arrow Articles by Tudor, L.

How to change prescribing of hypnotics

G. Harborne, Senior Registrar

The North Wales Hospital

L. Tudor, Medical Audit Administrator

The North Wales Hospital, Denbigh, Clwyd LL16 5SS

This paper charts the progress of a continuing audit cycle of prescribing of hypnotics in a psychiatric hospital. First we reviewed some possible standards from the literature, then educated the prescribing doctors, and fed back to them their own patterns of prescribing. We present the results of this exercise repeated over 18 months; these show a change and general improvement in prescribing patterns. Finally we discuss some of the motivations and possible mechanisms behind these changes, and the implications for the audit process in general.