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Venous disease in the legs occurs very commonly in the general population in Western countries. Around one third of women have trunk varices. A lower prevalence has been observed in men but some recent surveys have suggested that the occurrence in men may be comparable to that in women. The prevalence increases with age but the incidence of new cases appears to be constant throughout adult life. Open venous ulcers occur in about 0.3% of the adult population and a history of open or healed ulceration occurs in around 1%. The etiology of chronic venous disease in the legs is unknown. A genetic predisposition may be present but evidence for this and for a mode of inheritance is lacking. There is some suggestion that prolonged standing may be a risk factor but studies are open to considerable bias. In women, obesity and previous pregnancy has been associated with the presence of varicose veins but the evidence is inconsistent. There have been few well-conducted studies examining diet and bowel habit as a risk factor. The risk of ulceration is related to the severity of varicosities and venous insufficiency, and is increased following deep vein thrombosis. Much further research is required to investigate the cause of this common condition in the general population.

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ObjectivesStudy objectives were to investigate the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors amongst foundation doctors (i.e. junior doctors in their first (F1) or second (F2) year of post-graduate training), describe their knowledge and experience of prescribing errors, and explore their self-efficacy (i.e. confidence) in prescribing.MethodA three-part mixed-methods design was used, comprising: prospective observational study; semi-structured interviews and cross-sectional survey. All doctors prescribing in eight purposively selected hospitals in Scotland participated. All foundation doctors throughout Scotland participated in the survey. The number of prescribing errors per patient, doctor, ward and hospital, perceived causes of errors and a measure of doctors' self-efficacy were established.Results4710 patient charts and 44,726 prescribed medicines were reviewed. There were 3364 errors, affecting 1700 (36.1%) charts (overall error rate: 7.5%; F1:7.4%; F2:8.6%; consultants:6.3%). Higher error rates were associated with : teaching hospitals (p<0.001), surgical (p = <0.001) or mixed wards (0.008) rather thanmedical ward, higher patient turnover wards (p<0.001), a greater number of prescribed medicines (p<0.001) and the months December and June (p<0.001). One hundred errors were discussed in 40 interviews. Error causation was multi-factorial; work environment and team factors were particularly noted. Of 548 completed questionnaires (national response rate of 35.4%), 508 (92.7% of respondents) reported errors, most of which (328 (64.6%) did not reach the patient. Pressure from other staff, workload and interruptions were cited as the main causes of errors. Foundation year 2 doctors reported greater confidence than year 1 doctors in deciding the most appropriate medication regimen.ConclusionsPrescribing errors are frequent and of complex causation. Foundation doctors made more errors than other doctors, but undertook the majority of prescribing, making them a key target for intervention. Contributing causes included work environment, team, task, individual and patient factors. Further work is needed to develop and assess interventions that address these.

Introduction