ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners1996
Investigation of whether on-site general practice counsellors have an impact on psychotropic drug prescribing rates and costs.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 1996. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review of the effect of on-site mental health professionals on the clinical behaviour of general practitioners.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2000Pooled it
- A randomized controlled trial and economic evaluation of counselling in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1998Trial
- Relationship between practice counselling and referral to outpatient psychiatry and clinical psychology.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 1998Article
- The rise of counselling and the return of alienism.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 1996Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCounselling services are now widespread within general practice. Although the cost-effectiveness of such services has yet to be fully investigated, benefits could include a reduction in prescribing of psychotropic drugs and of other drugs.
aimA study set out to determine whether practices with counsellors differed from those without in terms of their prescribing rates and costs of psychotropic drugs.
methodPrescribing analyses and cost (PACT) level two data reports for the quarter to November 1991 ending January 1992, as appropriate, were sought from 354 practices with counsellors and a matched sample of 216 practices without counsellors which had participated in a previous national survey of counselling in general practice. The drug groups examined were: hypnotics and anxiolytics; antidepressants; analgesics; all central nervous system drugs; and all drugs apart from central nervous system drugs. For each group of drugs, the numbers of prescribed items, total prescribing costs, and costs per item were expressed as a proportion of the practice's number of prescribing units (that is, the age-adjusted number of registered patients) and as a percentage of the average for similar practices in its family health services authority. Practice characteristics were compared between practices with an on-site counsellor and those without. Practices with and without counsellors were compared with respect to their prescribing indicators.
resultsPACT reports were obtained from 214 practices (response rate 38%)--126 with counsellors and 88 without. Practices with counsellors and practices without counsellors were well matched in terms of location, list size, proportion of elderly patients, training and fundholding status, and number of health promotion clinics. No significant differences were found between practices with and without counsellors in the prescribing indicators for any group of psychotropic drugs examined or for central nervous system drugs as a whole.
conclusionThere were no appreciable differences found in this study between practices with and without counsellors in terms of psychotropic drug prescribing rates or costs. The reasons for this are unclear; more indepth studies of individual counselling services are required.
Indexed as
Identifiers
8855009PMC1239531W1442134975What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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