Treatment with antipsychotic drugs in outpatient psychiatric practice

Practice: Purpose: Contrary to in-patient psychiatric care, quality assuran ce in the area of psychiatrists in outpatient practice is hardly in use. Me thods: Neuroleptic therapy regarding the following quality criteria was exa mined for 6 months in an outpatient psychiatric practice: choice of neurole ptics, dosage and combination of additional psychopharmacological medicatio ns. Results: 13 different neuroleptics were prescribed to 147 schizophrenic patients, most frequently haloperidol and clozapin. 31% of these patients (n =147) fell below the dosage recommendations for maintenance therapy. The most frequent psychopharmacological combinations were the combination of t wo neuroleptics (30%), the combination with lithium or carbamazepin (28%) a nd the combination with antidepressants (23%). Conclusion: Standardised tre atment suggestions as guidelines are valuable for psychiatrists in an outpa tients setting. In some cases it is necessary to develop individual treatme nt strategies that vary from the usual treatment standards.