Persistence of improvement in antibiotic prescribing in office practice

W. A. Ray, W. Schaffner and C. F. Federspiel

We evaluated persistence of the prescribing improvement seen in a previous statewide controlled trial, which measured improvement in the prescribing of contraindicated antibiotics and oral cephalosporins in the year after an educational intervention. Doctors visited by physician-counselors substantially improved their prescribing of both classes of drugs. The beneficial effect of the physician-counselors persisted throughout year 2, with attributable reductions in prescribing of 30% and savings of $950 for each doctor visited. The marked and lasting improvement in prescribing produced by the physician-counselors suggests using this model to develop ongoing programs to improve prescribing.

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