An observational study (2015) in English institutions over a 4-year period | BMJ Open PDF

Strengths and limitations of this study

• To our knowledge, this is the first UK study to examine long-term impact of a national policy initiative on antipsychotic prescribing in carehomes. The samples studied are many times those of other UK antipsychotic usage studies.
• Prescribing rates, antipsychotic agent type (including unlicensed antipsychotics) and length of treatment were unchanged.
• The factors preventing sustained change in anti-psychotic prescribing and regional variations observed remain unclear.
• One limitation of this observational study is the lack of comparable national data to demonstrate representativeness of the study sample.
• A further limitation of this study is the lack of clinical and staffing data to complement the detailed prescription data.

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/6/9/e009882.responses