[Drug therapy in a nursing home; favorable effect of feedback by the pharmacist on family physician's prescribing behavior].

OBJECTIVE

Investigating whether and how the prescribing behaviour of general practitioners (GPs) can be changed by the pharmacist's feedback.

DESIGN

Randomised, prospective.

SETTING

Residential home 'Bernlef', Groningen, the Netherlands.

METHOD

In the period 2 February-18 March 1993 the effect of different ways of sending prescriptions by the pharmacist on medication use was investigated. The 43 GPs of the inhabitants were randomly divided in 3 groups. Group A formed the control group and was requested to send their prescriptions as before, group B moreover received a list with the medication used by their patients, group C also got a list with the actual medication of their patients as well as recommendations by the pharmacist. Effects on medication use were determined after 4 weeks.

RESULTS

The 196 inhabitants used an average of 6.5 drugs (range 0-19). No difference was found between group A and group B, but there was a difference with group C. In all three groups the number of added drugs increased by 5%, but the number of deleted drugs was 7% in group C, as against only 3% in groups A and B (p < 0.05). The feedback of the pharmacist that for 44% of GPs contained new information resulted 9 times in the ending of medication and 4 times in decreasing of the dose.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacist's feedback by means of remarks on prescribed medication positively influences prescription behaviour of the GP.