title: [Pharmaceutical expenditure in primary care according to the prescription source].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To find the origin of primary care pharmaceutical prescription and where expenditure is attributed.
  
  
  METHODS
  A descriptive study of a prospective character.
  
  
  METHODS
  Medical clinics of a primary care team at the Torre del Mar Health Centre, Málaga.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2,580 prescriptions, whose average price was 1,415.4 pesetas, with a range from 135 to 35,889 pesetas, were issued. An average of 143.3 prescriptions a day were issued during the days analysed. The number of prescriptions issued by PC itself made up more than half the prescriptions, similar to the number of prescriptions originating elsewhere. The average price is greater for outside prescriptions than for prescriptions from within PC. Total accumulated cost was 3,651,912 pesetas. Expenditure on outside prescriptions was 1,774,783 pesetas, 48.59% of total cost. Total cost of prescriptions from within PC was 1,733,701 pesetas, 47.47% of the total.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PC has been assigned the role of issuing most prescriptions in the health-care system. This causes various problems within PHC: 1) a major administrative overload; 2) a great imaginative effort to try to avoid bureaucratic burdens; and 3) a real ability to rationalise the offer of medicines using quality criteria of only about 50%, as the other 50% of medicines originates outside PHC. We believe an extension of the programmes to guarantee quality in specialist care is needed, particularly of those programmes relating to pharmaceutical prescription.
authors.affiliation: Unidad Docente de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria, Centro de Salud de Torre del Mar, Málaga.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lomeña Villalobos
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ceballos Vacas
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Medina Arteaga
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mediavilla Cordero
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sarmiento Jiménez
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hernández Grande
mesh_terms: D003151:Community Health Centers / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016527:Drug Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011306:Prescription Fees / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013030:Spain
vernacular_title: Gasto farmacéutico en atención primaria según el origen de las prescripciones.