ArticleBMC health services research2007
Determinants of the range of drugs prescribed in general practice: a cross-sectional analysis.
Article in BMC health services research, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 40 citations in OpenAlex.
- Information from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing: a systematic review.PLoS medicine · 2010Pooled it
- Reducing antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory tract infections in family practice: results of a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating a multifaceted peer-group-based intervention.NPJ primary care respiratory medicine · 2016Trial
- Unwarranted variation in potentially inappropriate medication in general practice: a Danish nationwide register-based cohort study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Factors Influencing Prescribing Perceived Utility of Drugs: Experiences from Iraqi Kurdistan.Innovations in pharmacy · 2019Article
- The influential role of personal advice networks on general practitioners' performance: a social capital perspective.BMC health services research · 2017Article
- Factors affecting family physicians' drug prescribing: a cross-sectional study in Khuzestan, Iran.International journal of health policy and management · 2014Article
- Changes in physician antipsychotic prescribing preferences, 2002-2007.Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) · 2014Article
- Sources of drug information and their influence on the prescribing behaviour of doctors in a teaching hospital in Ibadan, Nigeria.The Pan African medical journal · 2011Article
- Characteristics of primary health care units with focus on drug information from the pharmaceutical industry and adherence to prescribing objectives: a cross-sectional study.BMC clinical pharmacology · 2010Article
- Labour intensity of guidelines may have a greater effect on adherence than GPs' workload.BMC family practice · 2009Article
- Factors influencing prescribing behaviour of physicians in Greece and Cyprus: results from a questionnaire based survey.BMC health services research · 2009Article
- Do decision support systems influence variation in prescription?BMC health services research · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCurrent health policies assume that prescribing is more efficient and rational when general practitioners (GPs) work with a formulary or restricted drugs lists and thus with a limited range of drugs. Therefore we studied determinants of the range of drugs prescribed by general practitioners, distinguishing general GP-characteristics, characteristics of the practice setting, characteristics of the patient population and information sources used by GPs.
methodsSecondary analysis was carried out on data from the Second Dutch Survey in General Practice. Data were available for 138 GPs working in 93 practices. ATC-coded prescription data from electronic medical records, census data and data from GP/practice questionnaires were analyzed with multilevel techniques.
resultsThe average GP writes prescriptions for 233 different drugs, i.e. 30% of the available drugs on the market within one year. There is considerable variation between ATC main groups and subgroups and between GPs. GPs with larger patient lists, GPs with higher prescribing volumes and GPs who frequently receive representatives from the pharmaceutical industry have a broader range when controlled for other variables.
conclusionThe range of drugs prescribed is a useful instrument for analysing GPs' prescribing behaviour. It shows both variation between GPs and between therapeutic groups. Statistically significant relationships found were in line with the hypotheses formulated, like the one concerning the influence of the industry. Further research should be done into the relationship between the range and quality of prescribing and the reasons why some GPs prescribe a greater number of different drugs than others.
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