Reducing long-term diazepam prescribing in office practice. A controlled trial of educational visits.
We conducted a controlled, statewide trial of the efficacy of an educational visit by a physician counselor in the reduction of diazepam prescribing in outpatient practice. A novel aspect of this trial was the provision of a schedule for gradual withdrawal of long-term diazepam users from drug therapy; 51% of visited doctors attempted to withdraw patients from diazepam therapy and 26% utilized the withdrawal schedule. The entire group of 43 visited doctors reduced the rate of long-term diazepam users in their practice by 18% relative to the control group; the subgroup of doctors who utilized the withdrawal schedule had and even greater reduction of 33%. These results suggest that practicing doctors are concerned with long-term use of diazepam and that the educational visit by another physician is one method for reducing such use.
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003975:Diazepam / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D004346:Drug Information Services; D004363:Drug Utilization; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008484:Medicaid; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013714:Tennessee
D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D003975:Diazepam