Prescription of acetaminophen in five French hospitals: What are the practices?

• Published in: Therapie Vol. 72; no. 5; p. 579
• Main Authors: Pace, Jean-Baptiste, Nave, Viviane, Moulis, Mélanie, Bourdelin, Magali, Coursier, Sandra, Jean-Bart, Élodie, Leroy, Bertrand, Bonnefous, Jean-Louis, Bontemps, Hervé, Coutet, Jérôme, Eyssette, Carine, Pont, Emmanuelle
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: France 01-10-2017
• Subjects: Acetaminophen - therapeutic use; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analgesics, Non-Narcotic - therapeutic use; Drug Misuse - statistics & numerical data; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Female; Hospitals - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Male; Prospective Studies; Paracetamol; Risque iatrogène; Bon usage; Acetaminophen; Iatrogenic risk; Paracétamol; Proper use
• ISSN: 0040-5957
• DOI: 10.1016/j.therap.2017.01.007

Acetaminophen is widely used in hospital settings and often considered as nontoxic. We conducted a multicentric study in order to evaluate its proper use.
Prescriptions from five general hospitals were analyzed, according to dose adjustments required in renal or liver failure, weight or chronic alcoholism, determined using a literature review. Other criteria have been assessed: indication for parenteral access, accuracy of administration time and pain assessment.
Among the 1256 analyzed prescriptions, 21% are non-compliants. The main causes of non-compliance (NC) are adjustments to weight and renal failure. Higher NC rates concern chronic alcoholism and liver failure.
Misuse of acetaminophen seems related to a lack of official recommendations concerning dose adjustments. Hospital pharmacists have an important role to play in the promotion of proper use of acetaminophen. Therefore we established a prescribing aid.