Skip to main content

Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Stockwell Lodge Med.Ctr.

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 Practices. From this we can calculate the “z-score”, which is a measure of how many standard deviations a given Practice 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 Practice's chemical:subparagraph ratios is provided, with this Practice'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 Stockwell Lodge Med.Ctr. is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Griseofulvin 1 Antifungal preparations 122 0.01 0.00 0.00 27.98
Gluten free/low protein cereals 8 Foods for special diets 81 0.10 0.00 0.00 20.78
Low protein desserts 8 Foods for special diets 81 0.10 0.00 0.01 18.11
Rivastigmine 140 Drugs for dementia 287 0.49 0.10 0.10 3.88
Methocarbamol 147 Skeletal muscle relaxants 228 0.64 0.08 0.15 3.73
Sodium chloride 8 Tear deficiency, eye lubricant/astringent 163 0.05 0.00 0.01 3.68
Tioconazole 11 Antifungal preparations 122 0.09 0.01 0.02 3.57
Silver nitrate 7 Preparations for warts and calluses 11 0.64 0.07 0.16 3.43
Oxycodone hydrochloride/naloxone hydrochloride 32 Opioid analgesics 1,996 0.02 0.00 0.00 3.02
Magnesium citrate 1 Bowel cleansing preparations 2 0.50 0.03 0.16 2.98

Prescribing where Stockwell Lodge Med.Ctr. is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Baclofen 76 Skeletal muscle relaxants 228 0.33 0.83 0.18 -2.73
Fluconazole 24 Triazole antifungals 44 0.55 0.85 0.13 -2.30
Memantine hydrochloride 10 Drugs for dementia 287 0.03 0.38 0.18 -1.94
Methylprednisolone acetate 1 Local corticosteroid injections 80 0.01 0.74 0.39 -1.86
Theophylline 35 Theophylline 57 0.61 0.91 0.17 -1.80
Nicotine 1 Nicotine dependence 12 0.08 0.65 0.33 -1.70
Oxybutynin 16 Drugs for urinary frequency enuresis and incontinence 556 0.03 0.18 0.09 -1.68
Sodium picosulfate 0 Bowel cleansing preparations 2 0.00 0.69 0.43 -1.61
    Salicylic acid 2 Preparations for warts and calluses 11 0.18 0.67 0.31 -1.58
    Lithium carbonate 24 Drugs used for mania and hypomania 138 0.17 0.61 0.28 -1.57