title: The nature and content of telephone prescribing habits in a community practice.
abstract: Prescribing medicine over the telephone was studied during a two-month period in a two-physician fee-for-service private family practice. Of 1,264 telephone calls, 392 (31.0%) resulted in a medication prescription. Of these calls, 176 (44.9%) were for refills of previously prescribed medicines. The most common drugs for new telephone prescriptions were decongestants/antihistamines/antitussives, antibiotics, and pain medications. Medicines were more likely to be prescribed via telephone for the diagnoses of upper respiratory infections, headache, low-back pain, or bronchitis. A patient was more likely than expected to get a telephone prescription for new problems when a message was left in the office for the physician by a caller other than the patient's son or daughter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Community Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia.
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Daugird
mesh_terms: D015984:Causality; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005194:Family Practice / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009657:North Carolina; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012424:Rural Population; D013689:Telephone