ArticleBMC primary care2022
Primary care physician responses to requests by older adults for unnecessary drugs: a qualitative study.
Article in BMC primary care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Experiences of medication burden among patients with multimorbidity in rural China: a qualitative study.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
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- General practitioners' attitudes towards and frequency of collaboration with pharmacists in China: a cross-sectional study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Article
- WeChat official accounts' posts on medication use of 251 community healthcare centers in Shanghai, China: content analysis and quality assessment.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundUnnecessary drug use can cause avoidable harm to older adults and is particularly common in primary care, but how primary care physicians (PCPs) respond to older adult requests for unnecessary drugs has not been well studied. This study is to explore PCPs' responses to requests for unnecessary drugs from older adults, and their influencing factors and potential solutions.
methodsThis qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured, in-depth interviews from January 4 to September 30, 2020 using a grounded theory methodology. A purposive sample of PCPs affiliated with community healthcare centers in Zhejiang Province and Guangdong Province, China were recruited. The face-to-face interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and independently coded by two investigators. Themes surrounding PCPs' responses to requests for unnecessary drugs, their influencing factors and potential solutions were analysed using a constant comparative approach.
resultsOf the 23 participants involved in this study, 12 (52%) were women and the mean age was 35 years. PCPs frequently declined older adults' requests for unnecessary drugs through dissuasion, and occasionally rebuffed patients or referred them to another practitioner. PCPs may fulfill requests due to physician acquiescence, patient pressure, or inadequate supervision and support. Participants recommended four potential solutions to improve the quality of prescribing, including developing professional communication skills, enhancing pharmacist-physician collaboration, improving electronic prescription systems, and strengthening prescription management.
conclusionsPCPs typically deny requests by older adults for unnecessary drugs according to three main patterns, and guidance is necessary to reduce the potential for adverse consequences. Factors contributing to request fulfillment by PCPs require attention, and the potential solutions recommended by participants deserve consideration to improve the service quality of prescribing for older adults in primary care practices.
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