Trial reportScandinavian journal of primary health care2009
Effect of educational outreach on general practice prescribing of antibiotics and antidepressants: a two-year randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in Scandinavian journal of primary health care, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Academic Detailing Interventions and Evidence-Based Prescribing: A Systematic Review.JAMA network open · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to improve appropriate antibiotic prescribing in long-term care facilities: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2020Pooled it
- Sustainability of professionals' adherence to clinical practice guidelines in medical care: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2015Pooled it
- Educational interventions to improve prescription and dispensing of antibiotics: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2014Pooled it
- Effectiveness of educational outreach visits compared with usual guideline dissemination to improve family physician prescribing-an 18-month open cluster-randomized trial.Implementation science : IS · 2018Trial
- Irrational prescribing of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in general practice: testing the feasibility of an educational intervention among physicians in five European countries.BMC family practice · 2014Trial
- Trial
- Assessment of Labor Practices in Healthcare Using an Innovatory Framework for Sustainability.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2023Article
- Sustainability of healthcare professionals' adherence to clinical practice guidelines in primary care.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- An Innovative Framework for Sustainable Development in Healthcare: The Human Rights Assessment.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Evidence-Based Strategies in Using Persuasive Interventions to Optimize Antimicrobial Use in Healthcare: a Narrative Review.Journal of medical systems · 2020Review
- Educational effectiveness, target, and content for prudent antibiotic use.BioMed research international · 2015Review
- Awareness of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic prescribing in UTI treatment: a qualitative study among primary care physicians in Sweden.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2013Article
- Primary care physicians' adoption of new drugs is not associated with their clinical interests: a pharmacoepidemiologic study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2011Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePrescribing of broad spectrum antibiotics and antidepressants in general practice often does not accord with guidelines. The aim was to determine the effectiveness of educational outreach in improving the prescribing of selected antibiotics and antidepressants, and whether the effect is sustained for two years.
designSingle blind randomized trial.
settingTwenty-eight general practices in Leicestershire, England.
interventionEducational outreach visits were undertaken, tailored to barriers to change, 14 practices receiving visits for reducing selected antibiotics and 14 for improving antidepressant prescribing.
main outcome measuresNumber of items prescribed per 1000 registered patients for amoxicillin with clavulanic acid (co-amoxiclav) and quinolone antibiotics, and average daily quantities per 1000 patients for lofepramine and fluoxetine antidepressants, measured at the practice level for six-month periods over two years.
resultsThere was no effect on the prescribing of co-amoxiclav, quinolones, or fluoxetine, but prescribing of lofepramine increased in accordance with the guidelines. The increase persisted throughout two years of follow-up.
conclusionA simple, group-level educational outreach intervention, designed to take account of identified barriers to change, can have a modest but sustained effect on prescribing levels. However, outreach is not always effective. The context in which change in prescribing practice is being sought, the views of prescribers concerning the value of the drug, or other unrecognised barriers to change may influence the effectiveness of outreach.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.