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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Burnt Ash Surgery

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 Burnt Ash Surgery is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Empagliflozin/metformin 99 Other antidiabetic drugs 531 0.19 0.01 0.02 9.32
Maltodextrin 15 Foods for special diets 75 0.20 0.01 0.02 8.79
Omega-3-acid ethyl esters 54 Lipid-regulating drugs 2,889 0.02 0.00 0.00 8.32
Fluocortolone 3 Copound haemorrhoidal preparations with corticosteroid 84 0.04 0.00 0.00 7.87
Lithium citrate 11 Drugs used for mania and hypomania 53 0.21 0.01 0.03 7.70
Sodium bicarbonate 2 Electrolytes and water 8 0.25 0.00 0.03 7.43
Sodium clodronate 8 Bisphosphonates and other drugs 221 0.04 0.00 0.00 7.42
Diflucortolone valerate 5 Topical corticosteroids 592 0.01 0.00 0.00 7.01
Simvastatin and ezetimibe 12 Lipid-regulating drugs 2,889 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.51
Levonorgestrel 18 Oral progestogen-only contraceptives 169 0.11 0.01 0.02 5.54

Prescribing where Burnt Ash Surgery is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Permethrin 0 Parasiticidal preparations 1 0.00 0.83 0.24 -3.46
    Isosorbide mononitrate 71 Nitrates 180 0.39 0.72 0.11 -3.05
    Tiotropium bromide 23 Antimuscarinic bronchodilators 95 0.24 0.71 0.18 -2.61
    Ivermectin 2 Topical preparation for rosacea 6 0.33 0.88 0.22 -2.45
    Desogestrel 136 Oral progestogen-only contraceptives 169 0.80 0.93 0.05 -2.40
    Codeine phosphate 0 Cough suppressants 10 0.00 0.74 0.33 -2.22
      Spironolactone 60 Potassium-sparing diuretics and aldosterone antagonists 137 0.44 0.72 0.14 -2.04
      Levonorgestrel 0 Emergency contraception 2 0.00 0.61 0.31 -1.97
        Quetiapine 41 Antipsychotic drugs 329 0.12 0.35 0.12 -1.86
        Ibuprofen 124 Rubefacients, topical NSAIDS, capsaicin and poultice 818 0.15 0.52 0.20 -1.82