ArticlePharmacy (Basel, Switzerland)2016
Irrational Use of Medicines-A Summary of Key Concepts.
Article in Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland), 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 111 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
111 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-prescription antibiotic use and its predictors among children in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Italian journal of pediatrics · 2024Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness and Economic Benefit of Continuous Professional Development for Drug Prescribing: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2022Pooled it
- Antibiotics Use Patterns in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review Analysis.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingPooled it
- A combined strategies intervention on the World Health Organization prescribing indicators: A quasi-randomised trial.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2024Trial
- Rational use of expensive medicines in the Netherlands: strategies to improve effectiveness and reduce burden on patients and society - a narrative review.BMC medicine · 2026Review
- Exploring and enhancing community awareness on antimicrobial resistance: perspectives from world antimicrobial resistance awareness week celebration in Ghana.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Prescribing Errors in Iraqi Intensive and Cardiac Care Units: A Qualitative Investigations of Pharmacists' Perceptions, Determining Factors, Outcomes and Management Strategies.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Primary healthcare system readiness for the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases in Nepal.Discover public health · 2026Article
- Patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services in the context of chief pharmacist system: a comparative study from Shaanxi Province, China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Trends in primary care antibiotic prescribing during the implementation of national stewardship policies: Türkiye, 2011-2019.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Irrational medicine use and its associated factors in conflict-affected areas in Mali: a cross-sectional study.Global health action · 2025Article
- Knowledge and Practices on Household Disposal of Unused Antimicrobials in Ho Municipality, Ghana.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Treatment Patterns, Cough Formulations, and Antibiotics Usage for Pediatric Acute Cough in India: A Real-World Study.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025Article
- Antibiotic use without prescription among children aged under 5 years in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Review
- A survey on the attitudes of pediatric residents toward rational use of medicines and associated factors in Izmir, Turkey.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Antibiotic Use by Paediatric Residents of the Oman Medical Specialty Board:Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2025Article
- So Many Choices, So Little Value: Potential Savings from Selecting Cost-Effective Proton Pump Inhibitors.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2025Article
- Brief verbal intervention to address inappropriate prescriptions of chinese patent medicines among western practitioners in primary health care (BRAVERY): a study protocol for an unannounced standardized patient experiment with a factorial design randomized controlled trial in China.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- Assessment of drug utilization evaluation and post-dispensing knowledge of ophthalmic medications: an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study at the University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Prescription Audit in Outpatient Pharmacy of a Tertiary Care Referral Hospital in Haryana Using World Health Organization/International Network of Rational Use of Drugs (WHO/INRUD) Core Prescribing Indicators: A Step Towards Refining Drug Use and Patient Care.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
51 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Medicines play an integral part of healthcare delivery. However, they are expensive commodities and account for a significant proportion of overall health expenditure in most countries. Irrational use of medicines is a major challenge facing many health systems across the world. Such practices are likely to lead to poor health delivery that may put patients at risk and result in wastage of scarce resources that could have been used to tackle other pressing health needs. The concept of "rational use of medicine" can at times be confusing and not easily appreciated by patients, healthcare providers, policy makers, or the public, all of whom need to collaborate effectively to address this challenge. In this article, we summarize basic concepts such as rational medicine use, good prescribing and dispensing, and explore some of the factors that contribute to irrational use of medicines as well as potential impacts of such practices. This article has been written with the intention of offering a clear, concise, and easy to understand explanation of basic medicine use concepts for health professionals, patients, policy makers, and the public.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.