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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Mmwf 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 Mmwf PCN is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Titanium dioxide 1 Sunscreening preparations 24 0.04 0.00 0.00 10.38
Low protein snacks 8 Foods for special diets 409 0.02 0.00 0.00 8.86
Doxycycline hyclate 14 Drugs for oral ulceration and inflammation 174 0.08 0.00 0.01 8.01
Nefopam hydrochloride 1,664 Non-opioid analgesics and compound preparations 14,116 0.12 0.01 0.01 7.63
Triptorelin acetate 112 Prostate cancer and gonadorelin analogues 340 0.33 0.02 0.05 6.74
Empagliflozin/metformin 617 Other antidiabetic drugs 7,267 0.08 0.00 0.01 6.59
Dapagliflozin/metformin 330 Other antidiabetic drugs 7,267 0.05 0.00 0.01 6.44
Pentosan polysulfate sodium 7 Oral anticoagulants 5,979 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.02
Amiloride hydrochloride with loop diuretics 8 Potassium sparing diuretics and compounds 38 0.21 0.01 0.04 5.28
Sodium citrate 2 Drugs used in urological pain 2 1.00 0.07 0.18 5.09

Prescribing where Mmwf PCN is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Potassium citrate 0 Drugs used in urological pain 2 0.00 0.93 0.19 -4.82
    Ivermectin 10 Topical preparation for rosacea 20 0.50 0.89 0.11 -3.36
    Trimethoprim 303 Sulfonamides and trimethoprim 444 0.68 0.87 0.07 -2.82
    Colecalciferol 8,847 Vitamin D 9,512 0.93 0.97 0.01 -2.49
    Methylprednisolone acetate 3 Local corticosteroid injections 149 0.02 0.73 0.29 -2.45
    Ispaghula husk 368 Bulk-forming laxatives 429 0.86 0.96 0.04 -2.39
    Lithium carbonate 224 Drugs used for mania and hypomania 1,046 0.21 0.62 0.18 -2.29
    Mirabegron 323 Drugs for urinary frequency enuresis and incontinence 2,912 0.11 0.23 0.06 -2.14
    Progesterone 44 Progestogens and progesterone receptor modulators 259 0.17 0.59 0.20 -2.10
    Estradiol 258 Oestrogens and Hormone Replacement Therapy 854 0.30 0.49 0.09 -2.08