title: Development of a core drug list towards improving prescribing education and reducing errors in the UK.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a core list of 100 commonly prescribed drugs to support prescribing education.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective analysis of prescribing data from primary care in England (2006 and 2008) and from two London Teaching Hospitals (2007 and 2009) was performed. A survey of prescribing by foundation year 1 (FY1) doctors in 39 NHS Trusts across London was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A core list of 100 commonly prescribed drugs comprising ≥0.1% prescriptions in primary and/or secondary care was developed in 2006/7. The core list remained stable over 2 years. FY1 doctors prescribed 65% drugs on the list at least monthly. Seventy-six% of FY1 doctors did not regularly prescribe any drugs not on the core list. There was a strong correlation between prescribing frequency (prescriptions for each drug class expressed as percentage of all prescriptions written) and error rate described in the EQUIP study (errors made when prescribing each drug class expressed as a percentage of all errors made), n= 39, r= 0.861, P= 0.000.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our core drug list identifies drugs that are commonly used and associated with error and is stable over at least 2 years. This list can now be used to develop learning resources and training programmes to improve prescribing of drugs in regular use. Complementary skills required for prescribing less familiar drugs must be developed in parallel. Ongoing research is required to monitor the effect of new training initiatives on prescribing error and patient safety.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Pharmacology, Division of Biomedical Sciences, St George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 ORE, UK. ebaker@sgul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baker
authors.forename: Adele Pryce
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Kirsty
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wilde
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.forename: Sati
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suri
authors.forename: Gurvinder
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rull
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Webb
mesh_terms: D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005569:Formularies as Topic; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010601:Pharmacology, Clinical / Q000193:education*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies