Patterns of prescribing in Irish general practitioners

A group of thirty General Practitioners in the Sligo/Leitrim area were studied to examine their prescribing patterns of commonly-occurring clinical situations. Using a structured questionnaire, the doctors were presented with seven case histories of conditions which were both common and require a prescription. The doctors were asked to to record the drug that they would prescribe in a normal situation. The results were analysed according to the range of drugs used, the degree of generic versus proprietary prescribing and the variation in costs for each case and for each doctor. The study was carried out in October 1990-March 1991. Of all the prescriptions written, 21% were for generic preparations (ie 46 out of 210) and these were most commonly chosen in the areas of Tonsillitis and Osteoarthritis. Prescribers of generics showed no differences as regards age, size of practice or distance from hospital. The choice of drug was most consistent in the area of Urinary Tract Infection, which was also the cheapest prescribing area. Prescribing for Non-Ulcer-Dyspepsia showed the greatest variation in drug choice and was also the most expensive area of the cases in this study. Doctors who used generic preparations in at least three of the seven cases in this study demonstrated a saving of 21% in their prescribing costs. Overall, the degree of generic prescribing was greatest in the areas where the potential savings were only moderate and the least generic prescribing was present in the group of drugs where the greatest potential savings might be made.