ArticleBMJ open2019
How do general practitioners access guidelines and utilise electronic medical records to make clinical decisions on antibiotic use? Results from an Australian qualitative study.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Stewardship without walls: taming the unregulated antibiotic economy to contain antimicrobial resistance in Ethiopia.Nature communications · 2026Review
- Factors influencing antibiotic prescription for respiratory tract infections among prescribers in Jinja City, Uganda: a qualitative study.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2026Article
- A scoping review of evidence-based guidance and guidelines published by general practice professional organizations.Family practice · 2024Article
- Understanding general practitioners' prescribing choices to patients with chronic low back pain: a discrete choice experiment.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2024Article
- Understanding hospital antimicrobial prescribing decisions and determinants of uptake of new local antimicrobial prescribing guidelines in Laos.Wellcome open research · 2024Article
- GP preferences for, access to, and use of evidence in clinical practice: a mixed-methods study.BJGP open · 2023Article
- Role of multidimensional factors in the diagnosis and treatment of tonsillopharyngitis in primary care: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- Polish Medical Doctors' Opinions on Available Resources and Information Campaigns concerning Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance, a Cross-Sectional Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Using theories and frameworks to understand how to reduce low-value healthcare: a scoping review.Implementation science : IS · 2022Article
- Antimicrobial stewardship in Australia: the role of qualitative research in programme development.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2021Review
- Evaluating the Implementation of a Pilot Quality Improvement Program to Support Appropriate Antimicrobial Prescribing in General Practice.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- What factors predict physicians' utilization behavior of contrast-enhanced ultrasound? Evidence from the integration of the Theory of Planned Behavior and Technology Acceptance Model using a structural equation modeling approach.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2021Article
- A scoping review protocol of evidence-based guidance and guidelines published by general practitioner professional organisations.HRB open research · 2021Article
- Article
- Risks of use and non-use of antibiotics in primary care: qualitative study of prescribers' views.BMJ open · 2020Article
- Understanding factors influencing venous leg ulcer guideline implementation in Australian primary care.International wound journal · 2020Article
- Article
- Restricting high-end antibiotics usage - challenge accepted!Journal of family medicine and primary care · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThis study aimed to explore how general practitioners (GPs) access and use both guidelines and electronic medical records (EMRs) to assist in clinical decision-making when prescribing antibiotics in Australia.
designThis is an exploratory qualitative study with thematic analysis interpreted using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework.
settingThis study was conducted in general practice in Victoria, Australia.
participantsTwenty-six GPs from five general practices were recruited to participate in five focus groups between February and April 2018.
resultsGPs expressed that current EMR systems do not provide clinical decision support to assist with antibiotic prescribing. Access and use of guidelines were variable. GPs who had more clinical experience were less likely to access guidelines than younger and less experienced GPs. Guideline use and guideline-concordant prescribing was facilitated if there was a practice culture encouraging evidence-based practice. However, a lack of access to guidelines and perceived patients' expectation and demand for antibiotics were barriers to guideline-concordant prescribing. Furthermore, guidelines that were easy to access and navigate, free, embedded within EMRs and fit into the clinical workflow were seen as likely to enhance guideline use.
conclusionsCurrent barriers to the use of antibiotic guidelines include GPs' experience, patient factors, practice culture, and ease of access and cost of guidelines. To reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and to promote more rational use of antibiotic in the community, guidelines should be made available, accessible and easy to use, with minimal cost to practicing GPs. Integration of evidence-based antibiotic guidelines within the EMR in the form of a clinical decision support tool could optimise guideline use and increase guideline-concordant prescribing.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.