Prescribing errors are the most common cause of patient safety incidents in primary care. Your prescribing toolkit needs to be robust from day one.
Product Information and Clinical Guidance
The baseline prescribing reference. Dosing, interactions, contraindications, monitoring, cautionary advice. Free app for NHS. Install before your first clinical session. Use for every prescribing decision — not just unfamiliar drugs. Even familiar prescriptions may have interactions in specific patients.
Medstopper (Essential for Polypharmacy)
Deprescribing guidance — when and how to stop medications. Essential for elderly patients on multiple drugs. Provides evidence-based stopping protocols for common medications. Free. Particularly useful for medication reviews and QOF chronic disease management.
UKTIS (Essential for Pregnancy)
UKTIS provides professional evidence synthesis for medicine exposure in pregnancy. Check the exact product’s SmPC section 4.6, add applicable NICE, SPS, obstetric or specialist guidance, and use BUMPS where patient-facing material is appropriate.
Stockley's Drug Interactions
Comprehensive interaction database for complex polypharmacy queries beyond standard interaction checkers. When a standard prescribing reference says "may interact" but you need to know the clinical significance and management, Stockley's provides the depth.
NICE CKS Prescribing Sections
Evidence-based prescribing pathways within management guidance. First-line, second-line, and alternative treatment options with dosing and monitoring.
Ask iatroX
Synthesises prescribing information across SmPCs via eMC and clinical literature. Useful for complex queries — "can I prescribe X alongside Y in a patient with Z?" — where switching between multiple tools would be slow.
AKT Prescribing
Prescribing knowledge is important for the AKT, but candidates should follow the current RCGP curriculum and candidate guidance rather than treating one medicines source as the blueprint. Verify product-specific information in relevant SmPCs on eMC and recommendations in applicable NICE, SPS, local or specialist guidance.
Common Trainee Prescribing Errors
Not checking interactions in polypharmacy. Not adjusting doses for renal function. Not knowing pregnancy safety classifications. Prescribing based on habit rather than current guidelines. Not documenting prescribing rationale.
Where iatroX Fits
Ask iatroX pulls from SmPCs via eMC and clinical literature for prescribing queries — useful when the question spans multiple drugs or clinical contexts and switching between tools would be slow.