And, from this month, we have also made possible supplementary prescribing by nurses and pharmacists.
Then the government said it would pay GPs thousands of pounds a year if they cut prescribing by just 1%.
Previous Nice guidance on the use of antibiotics to treat respiratory tract infections, issued in 2007, was aimed at cutting prescribing by 22%.
"This system will allow us to monitor prescription shopping and doctor shopping and any illicit prescribing by doctors," said Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, who announced his support for such a system this month.
Everything from "small acts of kindness and neighbourliness" to the social prescribing by GPs of activities to keep older people involved in their community are likely to be part of the mix in promoting a better later life, Dixon suggests.
While the nation's pharmacy benefit managers endorse the Institute of Medicine's call for national electronic prescribing by 2010 ("Report Finds a Heavy Toll From Medication Errors,'' news article, July 21), a big hurdle remains to meeting this timetable.
What little researchers and clinicians do know suggests that the increases cannot be solely attributed to reckless prescribing by doctors hell-bent on tagging a psychiatric label on every child who walks into the consulting room.
There are many theories about what led to the explosion and mainstreaming of opioid addiction in this country: aggressive marketing of opioid pain pills by the pharmaceutical industry, inappropriate prescribing by clinicians or the widespread availability of cheap heroin.
The adoption of prescribing by nurses is increasing worldwide and can potentially enhance service provision.
In addition, trends in prescribing by class and seasonal variation are described by provider group over 6 years.
We sought to describe the effect of a state-mandated PDMP on opioid prescribing by emergency medicine providers.
