Patient-centred prescribing

Patients' requests and expectations, and prescribers' perceptions of these, are strong influences on prescribing behaviour. Prescribers often overestimate patients' expectation of a prescription and so may overprescribe. Exploring patient expectations may reduce this. Strategies for improving the quality of prescribing include clarifying the patient's concerns, goals and expectations of treatment, discussing management options, and the explicit use of evidence to inform shared decision making.