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Front Pharmacol 2022 12;13:759998. Epub 2022 Apr 12.

Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Nord University, Bodø, Norway.

Highly widespread use of (PRN) medicines in various healthcare settings is a potential area for improper medication prescription and administration leading to patient harm. This study aimed to summarize and integrate the findings of all relevant individual studies regarding the practical considerations of PRN medicines management including strategies and interventions by healthcare professionals for safe prescription, dispensing, administration, monitoring, and deprescription of PRN medicines in healthcare settings. An integrative systematic review on international databases were performed. Read More

Asian J Psychiatr 2022 Mar 13;69:103007. Epub 2022 Jan 13.

Department of NeuroPsychiatry, Tokyo Metropolitan Tama Medical Center, 2-8-29 Musashidai, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8524, Japan.

Background: Although several guidelines indicate that daily pharmacotherapy is an important part of the treatment of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder, there are few reports regarding pro re nata (PRN) prescriptions. The purpose of this study is to clarify the characteristics of patients receiving psychotropic PRN prescription for the treatment of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder.

Method: We used data from 'the effectiveness of guideline for dissemination and education in psychiatric treatment' (EGUIDE) project to evaluate the presence or absence of psychotropic PRN prescription at the time of discharge, the age and sex of patients receiving PRN prescription for each diagnosis, and the association between PRN prescription and regular daily psychotropics. Read More

J Am Med Dir Assoc 2021 Dec 14. Epub 2021 Dec 14.

The Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA; Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.

Objectives: Psychotropic medications administered on an as-needed basis, often designated as pro re nata (or PRN, hereafter as-needed), can alleviate acute symptoms and facilitate deprescribing, although as-needed use is associated with negative outcomes such as polypharmacy and drug interactions. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which PRN psychotropic medications are prescribed and administered to assisted living (AL) residents, overall and in relation to resident- and community-level characteristics.

Design: Cross-sectional study. Read More

BJPsych Open 2021 Aug 16;7(5):e149. Epub 2021 Aug 16.

Medical School, University of Cyprus, Cyprus; and Department of Clinical Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.

Background: Antipsychotic polypharmacy and prescription of high-dose antipsychotics are often used for the treatment of psychotic symptoms, especially in compulsory psychiatric care although there is lack of evidence to support this practice and related risks for patients.

Aims: We aimed to investigate prescription patterns in patients with psychosis under compulsory psychiatric treatment in Cyprus and to identify predictors for pharmaceutic treatment patterns.

Method: This was a nationwide, descriptive correlational study with cross-sectional comparisons, including 482 patients with compulsory admission to hospital. Read More