The prescribing practices of olanzapine in a psychiatric hospital in Britain

The aim of this study was to review the prescribing practices at St Andrew's Hospital of the atypical antipsychotic drug olanzapine. Forty-one patients were treated with olanzapine by nine prescribers during a 9-month study period. Two distinct categories of patients received the drug. Category A (n=30) patients were long-stay tertiary referrals, predominantly male and with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. For this group olanzapine was prescribed in high doses and half had additional antipsychotic medication, 17 patients (57%) improved but 30% were withdrawn from treatment. Category B (n=11) patients were acute admissions, younger, had a variety of diagnoses and were prescribed olanzapine at lower doses. All Category B patients improved after starting olanzapine and there were no dropouts. The prescribers consistently reported positive experiences about the use of olanzapine.