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[Improving drug prescription in primary care: a controlled and randomized study of an educational method]
M Font1, R Madridejos, A Catalán
1Servicios sanitarios del Area de Gestión 5, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona.
Background:
The aim of the present study was to assess whether educational intervention on the primary care physician may be an effective method to improve drug prescription.
Methods:
An experimental randomized controlled study was carried out in 244 physicians of the management area No. 5 of the Institut Català de la Salut. Intervention consisted in 3 individualized interviews with the 123 physicians of the study group (IG), during which written informative material was also presented. The issues were: cerebral and peripheral vasodilators (CPVD) and antibiotics. The changes in the prescription of CPVD, combination of anti-infective agents with expectorants, mucolytics and/or balsamics (R05C1) and cephalosporins were specially evaluated in both groups. Subsequently, a stratified analysis was carried out depending on the volume of prescription of the physicians.
Results:
The IG showed a greater reduction in the prescription of CPVD (9.78 bottles per physicians and months versus 6.43, p less than 0.01). The relative reduction in R05C1 prescription was also higher in the IG (12.3% versus 6.7%, p less than 0.01). The expenditure showed similar results. The use of oral cephalosporins increased in the IG and was reduced in the CG (p less than 0.01).
Conclusions:
The results show a favorable impact of personalized information in the groups with high prescription volume, which is particularly remarkable in the highest prescribers.
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