Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25984540›Full record

ArticleJournal of research in pharmacy practice

Comparison of prescribing indicators of academic versus non-academic specialist physicians in Urmia, Iran.

Laya Sadigh-Rad, Leila Majdi, Mehrnush Javaezi, Mohammad Delirrad

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of research in pharmacy practice. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.0field-weighted citation impact, top 20% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 7 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Laya Sadigh-RadRational Use of Drugs Committee, Vice-Chancellery for Food and Drug, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
Leila MajdiDepartment of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
Mehrnush JavaeziDepartment of Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Urmia, Iran.
Mohammad DelirradDepartment of Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran.
Urmia University of Medical SciencesIslamic Azad University of Urmia · IRUrmia University · IR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveAs chief prescribers, physicians could have a key role in rational drug use. Core prescribing indicators of all physicians have been evaluated in the Islamic Republic of Iran for several years, but no study has assessed the effects of academic status of doctors on their prescribing behaviors. We aimed to compare prescribing indicators of two groups of academic and non-academic specialist physicians working in Urmia, Iran.

methodsIn this cross-sectional study, prescribing indicators of the total number of 37 academic and 104 non-academic specialist physicians in six medical specialties (infectious diseases, psychiatry, otorhinolaryngology, gynecology, pediatrics and general surgery) were studied during 2012 using Rx-analyzer, a dedicated computer application. A set of five quality indicators was used based on the World Health Organization and International Network for Rational Use of Drugs recommendations.

findingsTotally, 709,771 medications in 269,660 prescriptions were studied. For academic and non-academic specialist physicians, the average number of medications per prescription was 2.26 and 2.65, respectively. Similarly, patients' encounters with injectable pharmaceuticals were 17.37% and 26.76%, respectively. The corresponding figures for antimicrobial agents were 33.12% and 45.46%, respectively. The average costs of every prescription were 6.53 and 3.30 United States Dollar for academic and non-academic specialist physicians, respectively. All the above-mentioned differences were statistically significant.

conclusionBetter prescribing patterns were observed in academic specialist physicians. However, they prescribed medications that were more expensive, while the reason was not investigated in this study. Further studies may reveal the exact causes of these differences.

Indexed as

Drug utilization reviewinappropriate prescribingIranoutpatientsUrmia

Identifiers

PMID25984540
PMCPMC4418135
OpenAlexW2071748663

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.