Persistence of improvement in antibiotic prescribing in office practice.
We evaluated persistence of the prescribing improvement seen in a previous statewide controlled trial, which measured improvement in the prescribing of contraindicated antibiotics and oral cephalosporins in the year after an educational intervention. Doctors visited by physician-counselors substantially improved their prescribing of both classes of drugs. The beneficial effect of the physician-counselors persisted throughout year 2, with attributable reductions in prescribing of 30% and savings of $950 for each doctor visited. The marked and lasting improvement in prescribing produced by the physician-counselors suggests using this model to develop ongoing programs to improve prescribing.
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002511:Cephalosporins; D002648:Child; D002701:Chloramphenicol; D002981:Clindamycin; D003376:Counseling; D004346:Drug Information Services; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000191:economics; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D010595:Pharmacists; D010820:Physicians; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013714:Tennessee; D013752:Tetracycline
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D002511:Cephalosporins; D002981:Clindamycin; D002701:Chloramphenicol; D013752:Tetracycline