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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Nantwich & Rural PCN

At OpenPrescribing we are piloting a number of data-driven approaches to identify unusual prescribing and collect feedback on this prescribing to inform development of new tools to support prescribers and organisations to audit and review prescribing. These pilot results are provided for the interest of advanced users, although we don't know how relevant they are in practice. There is substantial variation in prescribing behaviours, across various different areas of medicine. Some variation can be explained by demographic changes, or local policies or guidelines, but much of the remaining variation is less easy to explain.

The DataLab is keen to hear your feedback on the results. You can do this by completing the following survey or emailing us at [email protected]. Please DO NOT INCLUDE IDENTIFIABLE PATIENT information in your feedback. All feedback is helpful, you can send short or detailed feedback.

This report has been developed to automatically identify prescribing patterns at a chemical level which are furthest away from “typical prescribing” and can be classified as an “outlier”. We calculate the number of prescriptions for each chemical in the BNF coding system, the count of all prescriptions within that chemical's BNF subparagraph, for prescriptions dispensed between June 2021 and December 2021. We then calculate the ratio of these counts along with the mean and standard deviation of those ratios across all PCNs. From this we can calculate the “z-score”, which is a measure of how many standard deviations a given PCN is from the population mean. We then rank your “z-scores” to find the top 10 results where prescribing is an outlier for prescribing higher than its peers and those where it is an outlier for prescribing lower than its peers.

For each outlier chemical, a kernel density estimation plot of all PCN's chemical:subparagraph ratios is provided, with this PCN's ratio overlaid in red.

It is important to remember that this information was generated automatically and it is therefore likely that some of the behaviour is warranted. This report seeks only to collect information about where this variation may be warranted and where it might not, to inform research on this topic. Our full analytical method code is openly available on GitHub here.

This is a new, experimental feature. We'd love to .

Prescribing where Nantwich & Rural PCN is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Urine testing reagents 210 Diabetic diagnostic and monitoring agents 2,155 0.10 0.01 0.01 7.15
Calcitriol 162 Vitamin D 8,611 0.02 0.00 0.00 7.08
Flutamide 10 Prostate cancer and gonadorelin analogues 346 0.03 0.00 0.00 6.91
Fentanyl 774 Opioid analgesics 6,748 0.11 0.04 0.02 4.23
Silver nitrate 8 Preparations for warts and calluses 19 0.42 0.07 0.08 4.18
Methylprednisolone 15 Use of corticosteroids 2,311 0.01 0.00 0.00 4.15
Colistimethate sodium 15 Some other antibacterials 21 0.71 0.15 0.15 3.83
Dexamethasone 170 Use of corticosteroids 2,311 0.07 0.03 0.01 3.75
Benzalkonium chloride 59 Barrier preparations 160 0.37 0.05 0.08 3.73
Low protein grains/flours 5 Foods for special diets 359 0.01 0.00 0.00 3.55

Prescribing where Nantwich & Rural PCN is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Glucose blood testing reagents 1,875 Diabetic diagnostic and monitoring agents 2,155 0.87 0.94 0.02 -3.08
Prednisolone 1,879 Use of corticosteroids 2,311 0.81 0.89 0.03 -2.59
Sodium chloride 19 Topical nasal decongestants 134 0.14 0.54 0.18 -2.26
Codeine phosphate 10 Cough suppressants 30 0.33 0.77 0.20 -2.20
Aripiprazole 180 Antipsychotic drugs 3,227 0.06 0.13 0.03 -2.15
Rivaroxaban 402 Oral anticoagulants 8,530 0.05 0.24 0.10 -1.89
Ivabradine 31 Other antianginal drugs 626 0.05 0.24 0.10 -1.83
Ticagrelor 33 Antiplatelet drugs 11,710 0.00 0.02 0.01 -1.81
Diclofenac diethyl 96 Rubefacients, topical NSAIDS, capsaicin and poultice 1,474 0.07 0.30 0.13 -1.77
Other food for special diet preparations 123 Foods for special diets 359 0.34 0.64 0.17 -1.75