Effectiveness of the Feedback and Recalling Education on Quality of Prescription by General Practitioners in Shiraz

Although there is a great concern regarding rational use of drugs, the available evidence for the appropriate strategies to improve prescribing is scarce in Iran. The goal of the this study was to assess the prescribing pattern of general practitioners (GPs) in Fars province (Shiraz) and evaluate the effectiveness of the combination of feedback of individualized prescribing and workshop training programs. A quasi experimental intervention study was conducted in which prescription copies of 119 GPs before and after intervention were compared. Physicians received individual instruction with specific recommendations or participated in a training workshop for improvement according to their baseline prescribing quality levels. The paired t-test was used to compare before and after results. The most frequently prescribed drugs were injectable drugs (58.8%) and antibiotics (47.3%). A trend toward increasing rational drug prescriptions was observed in most pharmacological components of prescriptions. Over-prescription of injectable and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs) drugs showed statistically significant decrease, but the antibiotics showed no significant change. Unusual dose of antibiotic, concurrent prescribing of H2-blocker and Omeprazol and first degree drug-interaction also decreased significantly. The intervention showed that improving the quality of prescribing was feasible, particularly in over-prescribing