The use of prn and stat medication in three child psychiatric inpatient settings

As part of a larger study of prescribing practices in inpatient child and adolescent settings, 1,117 stat (emergency) and pm (as needed) doses administered to 150 child and adolescent inpatients at a state hospital, a private hospital, and a county-university hospital in the New York metropolitan area during 1991 were examined. Stat dosing was most common (p < .001) at the state hospital, where 76 percent of the medicated sample received at least one stat dose of medication; prn dosing was most common (p < .001) at the county-university hospital, where 80 percent of the medicated sample received at least one prn dose. Antihistamines were the most frequently used stat and prn medications at the state hospital. Antipsychotics were the most frequently used stat and prn medications at the private hospital. At the county-university hospital, the most frequently used stat medications were the minor tranquilizers, and the most frequently used prn medications were the antipsychotics. At all three hospitals, a high proportion of patients receiving stat or prn antipsychotics were receiving standing antipsychotics. At all three hospitals agitation was the predominant indication for stat or prn medication of any type.