[A pop-up menu linked to a computerized drug prescribing system. Prescribing pattern's feedback via a simple and...

It takes time for a GP to acquire sufficient experience of a new drug to be able to prescribe competently. This article describes a project studying the use of computerized records to afford a group of GP's swift feedback on recently introduced drugs of special interest. In the south-east of Sweden a network of primary health care centers has been created in two neighboring counties. The pharmacies of the region are also taking part. When new drugs of particular interest are introduced, each participating GP will automatically see a pop-up menu, asking questions pertaining to each computer-assisted prescription. In the pharmacies, patients are given a questionnaire regarding their expectations with respect to the drug. In this way it will be possible to provide the individual GP swift feedback from a large number of colleagues and patients concerning the drug's effectiveness in clinical practice. We have now been studying the COX-2 inhibitors rofecoxib (Vioxx) and celecoxib (Celebrex). Results show that a pop-up menu used in this way provides the general practitioner quick feed-back on prescribing behavior as well as drug effectiveness in clinical practice.