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Prototype Prescribing Outlier Dashboard for Gloucestershire STP

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 STPs. From this we can calculate the “z-score”, which is a measure of how many standard deviations a given STP 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 STP's chemical:subparagraph ratios is provided, with this STP'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 Gloucestershire STP is higher than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Ponatinib 1 Other antineoplastic drugs 1,846 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.33
Tirbanibulin 1 Sunscreening preparations 2,616 0.00 0.00 0.00 6.33
Amphotericin 3 Polyene antifungals 2,765 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.99
Raltegravir 29 HIV infection 58 0.50 0.02 0.08 5.94
Eluxadoline 1 Antispasmodic and other drugs altering gut motility 26,690 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.72
Pimozide 257 Antipsychotic drugs 87,839 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.72
Naldemedine 250 Peripheral opioid-receptor antagonists 640 0.39 0.03 0.06 5.71
Emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil 29 HIV infection 58 0.50 0.03 0.08 5.68
Triamterene with thiazides 23 Potassium sparing diuretics and compounds 1,790 0.01 0.00 0.00 5.55
Rabies 13 Vaccines and antisera 155,203 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.22

Prescribing where Gloucestershire STP is lower than most

BNF Chemical Chemical Items BNF Subparagraph Subparagraph Items Ratio Mean std Z_Score Plots
Nystatin 2,762 Polyene antifungals 2,765 1.00 1.00 0.00 -5.99
Naloxegol 390 Peripheral opioid-receptor antagonists 640 0.61 0.97 0.06 -5.70
Procyclidine hydrochloride 4,308 Antimuscarinic drugs used in parkinsonism 6,072 0.71 0.86 0.04 -3.48
Simple 43 Expectorant and demulcent cough preparations 53 0.81 0.96 0.04 -3.34
Insulin aspart 11,194 Short-acting insulins 18,515 0.60 0.79 0.06 -3.31
Ispaghula husk 5,430 Bulk-forming laxatives 6,254 0.87 0.96 0.03 -3.04
Senna 22,993 Stimulant laxatives 80,703 0.28 0.56 0.09 -3.04
Iron dextran 0 Parenteral iron 1 0.00 0.88 0.29 -3.01
    Lactulose 6,986 Osmotic laxatives 51,298 0.14 0.27 0.05 -2.38
    Potassium citrate 76 Drugs used in urological pain 89 0.85 0.95 0.04 -2.33