Abstract

In all human activities habits are often acquired without much conscious thought, and prescribing habits are no exception. Critical consideration of one’s own prescribing habits can help to improve them, and need not be painful or difficult. A list of questions originally intended to help medical students learn therapeutics¹ can be adapted to provide a convenient framework for thinking about one’s prescribing. The questions are designed to clarify the use of a single drug in a particular clinical situation. If other drugs are being used, the questions need to be answered separately about them. The whole process may also help to show the relative importance or priority that each drug has in a given situation.