Comparative prescription practices of family practice, internal medicine, and pediatrics residents

The purpose of this study was to compare the prescribing practices among family practice, pediatric, and internal medicine third-year residents in an inner city ambulatory care setting. A four-month chart audit was made for the prescriptions provided for asthma, osteoarthritis, congestive heart failure, and upper respiratory infection patients by these residents. In general, family physicians prescribed medications that were not different from those used by internists and pediatricians. However, there were significant (p less than 0.01) differences in the number of visits and prescriptions among the specialties. The prescribing practices of the study group differed from a national survey of private practitioners in several drug categories.