A survey of in-patient and out-patient antipsychotic prescriptions in Hong Kong

Nurses' attitudes towards the use of PRN psychotropic medications in acute and forensic mental health settings

Many countries now have national mental health policies and guidelines to decrease or eliminate the use of seclusion and restraint yet the use of Pro Re Nata (PRN) medications has received less practice evaluation. This research aimed to identify mental health nurses' attitudes towards the use of PRN medications with mental health consumers. Participants were working in forensic mental health and non-forensic acute mental health settings. The "Attitudes towards PRN medication use survey" was used and data were collected online. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package Social Sciences, Version 22.0. Practice differences between forensic and other acute mental health settings were identified related to the use of PRN medications to manage symptoms from nicotine, alcohol and other drug withdrawal. Differences related to the useage of comfort rooms and conducting comprehensive assessments of consumers' psychiatric symptoms were also detected. Qualitative findings highlighted the need for increased accountability for the prescribing and administration of PRN medications along with more nursing education/training to use alternative first line interventions. Nurses administering PRN medications should be vigilant regarding the indications for this practice to ensure they are facilitating the consumer's recovery by reducing the use of all forms of potentially restrictive practices in the hospital setting. The reasons for using PRN medications and PRN administration rates must be continually monitored to avoid practices such as high dose antipsychotics use and antipsychotic polypharmacy to ensure the efficacy of the consumers' management plans on their health care outcomes.

Patterns of antipsychotics' prescription in Portuguese acute psychiatric wards: A cross-sectional study

This study aimed to establish the prescribing patterns of antipsychotics in acute psychiatric wards across Portugal, to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and "high-doses" treatment, and to identify possible predictors. Twelve acute psychiatric inpatient units and 272 patients were included. The majority (87.5%) was treated with antipsychotics regardless of diagnosis, and 41.6% had at least two antipsychotics prescribed in combination. Age, use of depot antipsychotics, and antipsychotic "high-doses" were significant predictors of antipsychotic polypharmacy. Excluding 'as required' prescriptions, 13.8% of the patients were prescribed "high-doses" of antipsychotics. When antipsychotics 'as required' prescriptions were considered, 49.2% of the patients were on antipsychotic "high-doses". Age, use of depot antipsychotics, previous psychiatric hospitalization and involuntary admission were significant predictors of antipsychotic "high-doses". These results show that in Portugal the antipsychotics prescribing practices in psychiatric inpatient units diverge from those that are universally recommended, entailing important clinical and economic implications. It seems advisable to optimize the prescription of these drugs, in order to prevent adverse effects and improve the quality of the services provided.