Nutritional psychiatry

Patient or self-indulgent consumer?

Steroids in inflammatory bowel disease: a clinical review

Despite their effectiveness, corticosteroids are characterised by their serious adverse effects, which limit their long-term use. Recognition of their adverse effects is important in their prevention...

Integrating research and evidence-based guidance into prescribing practice

Both the College of Paramedics (CoP) (2018) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) (2016) are clear that, as non-medical prescribers, advanced paramedics are required to review and critically...

The power of the psyche during patient anaesthesia: opioid use and postoperative pain

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal investigated the use of therapeutic suggestions played to patients through earphones during general anaesthesia while undergoing surgery, and...

Deprescribing in mental health: pragmatic steps for a better quality of life

There have been numerous studies and articles over the last few years looking at deprescribing in mental health. For example, Bjerre et al (2018) outline that the deprescribing of antipsychotics for...

Multifactorial Tardive Dyskinesia: a case study

TD is a neurological disorder that is characterised by involuntary movements of the face and jaw (Royal College of Psychiatrists [RCPsych], 2019); described by Waln and Janovic (2013) as any ‘tardive...

A proposed taxonomy for population-level prescription use patterns

The authors began by acknowledging that a drug's benefit-risk balance depends on the situation in which it is applied. It is recognised that evidence and patient-level data are often insufficient to...

Concordance and non-compliance: a psychological perspective

Non-compliance is not a new thing within the world of prescribing but a census on its causes is still hard to find and views on its origins vary from the psychological, social or cultural (Broekmans...

Drug Breakdown: carbamazepine

Day 1: #carbamazepine was discovered mid 1950s as a tricyclic compound related to imipramine and was found to be effective for trigeminal neuralgia. Animal studies showed an anti-epileptic effect,...

Prescribing within clinical toxicology

Regional NHS poisoning treatment centres were first established in the 1960s following the Atkins and Hill reports, which highlighted significant concerns regarding poisoning management nationally...

Achieving and maintaining competency as a nurse independent non-medical prescriber

‘Prescribing by a practitioner (eg doctor, dentist, nurse, pharmacist) responsible and accountable for the assessment of patients with undiagnosed or diagnosed conditions and for decisions about the...