The effect of computer reminders on prescribing behaviour of GPs
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN16576123 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN16576123 |
| Protocol serial number | NTR270 |
| Sponsor | Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI) (The Netherlands) |
| Funders | VGZ Eindhoven (The Netherlands), CZ Health Insurance Company (CZ Actief in Gezondheid) (Netherlands) |
- Submission date
- 20/12/2005
- Registration date
- 20/12/2005
- Last edited
- 14/10/2008
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Prospectively registered
Protocol
Statistical analysis plan
Results
Individual participant data
Record updated in last year
Plain English summary of protocol
Not provided at time of registration
Contact information
Dr Jody Martens
Scientific
Scientific
Academic Hospital Maastricht
onderzoeker FTTO, BZe VII
P.O. Box 5800
Maastricht
6202 AZ
Netherlands
| Phone | +31 (0)43 387 7390/7388 |
|---|---|
| jd.martens@caphri.unimaas.nl |
Study information
| Primary study design | Interventional |
|---|---|
| Study design | Cluster randomised, single blind, active controlled, crossover trial |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Scientific title | |
| Study objectives | We hypothesised that this strategy could lead to a considerable and relevant change of prescribing behaviour in the desired direction. |
| Ethics approval(s) | Received from the local medical ethics committee |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | GP prescribing behaviour |
| Intervention | A clustered RCT with incomplete block design was executed in the Maastricht and Eastern-South Limburg region. Randomisation took place on practice level into two blocks: 25 GPs received reminders on antibiotics and asthma/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prescriptions, 28 GPs received reminders on cholesterol prescriptions. All GPs were told that they were participating in a trial, but they were blind for the fact that they only received part of the prescribing reminders. A computer-reminder-system with reactive reminders was developed to lead to a change in prescribing behaviour in the desired direction. All relevant prescription was written to a special database. GPs were obliged to register a diagnosis for all patients with asthma/COPD, cholesterol related disease or infections for which antibiotics were prescribed. The diagnosis, anamnesis, prescription information as well as information about the patient and GP in question was written to this database. The character of the reminders could be less or more persuasive and contained various types of reminders: alternative type of drugs, other doses, alternative drug administration, specific indication, other length of prescribing, not to prescribe anything or refer to specialist. The guidelines on which the reminders were based were developed by multidisciplinary expert teams. The topics were selected because of high prevalence of the health problems and contained antibiotics, asthma/COPD related drugs and cholesterol lowering drugs. |
| Intervention type | Other |
| Primary outcome measure(s) |
The central measure in our trial: prescription according to the guideline recommendation as a percentage of total prescriptions of that drug in block A and B. |
| Key secondary outcome measure(s) |
Other measures are: absolute number of reminders per GP per year/ per total patient contacts per year in block A and B |
| Completion date | 01/10/2006 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | Patient |
|---|---|
| Age group | Adult |
| Sex | All |
| Target sample size at registration | 53 |
| Key inclusion criteria | One inclusion criterion for inviting GPs to the intervention was using a specific medical information system for GPs called MicroHis. |
| Key exclusion criteria | Does not comply with the above inclusion criteria |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/10/2003 |
| Date of final enrolment | 01/10/2006 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- Netherlands
Study participating centre
Academic Hospital Maastricht
Maastricht
6202 AZ
Netherlands
6202 AZ
Netherlands
Results and Publications
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
|---|---|
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not provided at time of registration |
| IPD sharing plan |
