Hospital doctors' views of factors influencing their prescribing

Factors influencing doctors in prescribing of drugs have mostly been studied in primary care. Studies performed in hospital care have primarily focused on new drugs, not prescribing in general. An in-depth understanding of the prescribing process in the more specialized secondary care is not only important for secondary care itself, but because it also influences prescribing in primary care. The aim of this study is therefore to identify factors that secondary care doctors believe influence them in prescribing drugs, using a qualitative approach.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 hospital doctors in different medical specialities and the interviews were analysed from an interpretivist perspective. The information gathered was on how prescribing decisions were made in general and how the doctors chose a specific drug therapy, including information sources used.

According to our interviews, the hospital doctors took patient-specific factors and cost into consideration when prescribing, informed by different written information sources and commercial verbal information. Personal practice, colleagues and therapeutic tradition at the hospital or clinic, were influential in the prescribing of drugs. The themes identified should not to be seen as individual influences; many of them probably act in combination.

If changes in prescribing behaviour are desired, factors warranting more attention include understanding how to influence therapeutic traditions and the doctor's personal habits for prescribing. The importance of clinical experience and information exchange with colleagues should not be underestimated in providing information about drugs to hospital doctors.