According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 50% of all medicines worldwide are prescribed, dispensed, or sold inappropriately, a problem especially common in developing countries. Reflecting on and discussing your own prescribing practices can help reduce irrational medicine use and improve the overall quality of healthcare. What Does “Irrational Use of Medicine” Mean? Irrational prescribing occurs when medications are not used according to sound medical, ethical, or cost-effective principles. This can take many forms, including: Under-prescribing: Failing to prescribe necessary medicines.
Over-prescribing: Using more drugs than needed. Incorrect prescribing: Using the wrong drug, dose, or duration. Extravagant prescribing: Choosing unnecessarily expensive options. Multiple prescribing: Using several drugs when one would suffice. A Common Example: Antibiotic Misuse In many…
