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Variations in antibiotic prescribing among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptions.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVES:To assess variation in antibiotic prescribing practices among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS:Almost all outpatient encounters at village clinics result in a prescription being issued. Prescriptions were collected over a 2.5-year period from 8 primary care village clinics staffed by 24 doctors located around a town in rural Shandong province. A target of 60 prescriptions per clinic per month was sampled from an average total of around 300. Prescriptions were analysed at both aggregate and individual-prescriber levels, with a focus on diagnoses of likely viral acute upper respiratory tract infections (AURIs), defined as International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision codes J00 and J06.9. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Proportions of prescriptions for AURIs containing (1) at least one antibiotic, (2) multiple antibiotics, (3) at least one parenteral antibiotic; classes and agents of antibiotics prescribed. RESULTS:In total, 14 471 prescriptions from 23 prescribers were ultimately included, of which 5833 (40.3%) contained at least 1 antibiotic. Nearly two-thirds 62.5% (3237/5177) of likely viral AURI prescriptions contained an antibiotic, accounting for 55.5% (3237/5833) of all antibiotic-containing prescriptions. For AURIs, there was wide variation at the individual level in antibiotic prescribing rates (33.1%-88.0%), as well multiple antibiotic prescribing rates (1.3%-60.2%) and parenteral antibiotic prescribing rates (3.2%-62.1%). Each village doctor prescribed between 11 and 21 unique agents for AURIs, including many broad-spectrum antibiotics. Doctors in the highest quartile for antibiotic prescribing rates for AURI also had higher antibiotic prescribing rates than doctors in the lowest quartile for potentially bacterial upper respiratory tract infections (pharyngitis, tonsillitis, laryngopharyngitis; 89.1% vs 72.4%, p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS:All village doctors overused antibiotics for respiratory tract infections. Variations in individual prescriber practices are significant even in a small homogenous setting and should be accounted for when developing targets and interventions to improve antibiotic use.

SUBMITTER: Dyar OJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7265041 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Variations in antibiotic prescribing among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptions.

Dyar Oliver James OJ Yang Ding D Yin Jia J Sun Qiang Q Stålsby Lundborg Cecilia C

BMJ open 20200601 6

<h4>Objectives</h4>To assess variation in antibiotic prescribing practices among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China.<h4>Design, setting and participants</h4>Almost all outpatient encounters at village clinics result in a prescription being issued. Prescriptions were collected over a 2.5-year period from 8 primary care village clinics staffed by 24 doctors located around a town in rural Shandong province. A target of 60 prescriptions per clinic per month was sampled fro ...[more]

PMID: 32487580

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Excessive use of antibiotics is very common worldwide, especially in rural China; various measures that have been used in curbing the problem have shown only marginal effects. OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to test an innovative intervention that provided just-in-time information and feedback (JITIF) to village doctors on care of common infectious diseases. METHODS:The information component of JITIF consisted of a set of theory or evidence-based ingredients, including operation guideline, public commitment, and takeaway information, whereas the feedback component tells each participating doctor about his or her performance scores and percentages of antibiotic prescriptions. These ingredients were incorporated together in a synergetic way via a Web-based aid. Evaluation of JITIF adopted a randomized controlled trial design involving 24 village clinics randomized into equal control and intervention arms. Measures used included changes between baseline and endpoint (1 year after baseline) in terms of: percentages of patients with symptomatic respiratory or gastrointestinal tract infections (RTIs or GTIs) being prescribed antibiotics, delivery of essential service procedures, and patients' beliefs and knowledge about antibiotics and infection prevention. Two researchers worked as a group in collecting the data at each site clinic. One performed nonparticipative observation of the service process, while the other performed structured exit interviews about patients' beliefs and knowledge. Data analysis comprised mainly of: (1) descriptive estimations of beliefs or knowledge, practice of indicative procedures, and use of antibiotics at baseline and endpoint for intervention and control groups and (2) chi-square tests for the differences between these groups. RESULTS:A total of 1048 patients completed the evaluation, including 532 at baseline (intervention=269, control=263) and 516 at endpoint (intervention=262, control=254). Patients diagnosed with RTIs and GTIs accounted for 76.5% (407/532) and 23.5% (125/352), respectively, at baseline and 80.8% (417/532) and 19.2% (99/532) at endpoint. JITIF resulted in substantial improvement in delivery of essential service procedures (2.6%-24.8% at baseline on both arms and at endpoint on the control arm vs 88.5%-95.0% at endpoint on the intervention arm, P<.001), beliefs favoring rational antibiotics use (11.5%-39.8% at baseline on both arms and at endpoint on the control arm vs 19.8%-62.6% at endpoint on the intervention arm, P<.001) and knowledge about side effects of antibiotics (35.7% on the control arm vs 73.7% on the intervention arm, P<.001), measures for managing or preventing RTIs (39.1% vs 66.7%, P=.02), and measures for managing or preventing GTIs (46.8% vs 69.2%, P<.001). It also reduced antibiotics prescription (from 88.8%-62.3%, P<.001), and this decrease was consistent for RTIs (87.1% vs 64.3%, P<.001) and GTIs (94.7% vs 52.4%, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS:JITIF is effective in controlling antibiotics prescription at least in the short term and may provide a low-cost and sustainable solution to the widespread excessive use of antibiotics in rural China.

Project description:BACKGROUND:The purpose of this study was to measure the level of job satisfaction of certified physicians in rural primary health care facilities (PHCFs) in Shandong Province in order to ascertain the key factors affecting their satisfaction and to provide effective information for policy decisions. METHODS:This cross-sectional study was conducted among certified physicians in PHCFs in rural Shandong from June to August 2016. An anonymous questionnaire was completed by 495 participants (valid response rate: 91.6%). Data were analyzed using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA), one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and multiple linear regression. RESULTS:The participants consisted of 310 (62.6%) males and 185 (37.4%) females. The overall mean score for job satisfaction among respondents was 3.41 (standard deviation (SD) 0.68), which indicated that certified physicians were partially satisfied with their jobs. Results also indicated that factors for the highest level of satisfaction among certified physicians were the internal environment and job description. Moreover, physicians were more satisfied with competency behaviours and organizational management than with working conditions and job rewards. In contrast, physicians were dissatisfied with the external environment to an extent. Overall job satisfaction decreased with more years of service. Older physicians were less satisfied with their jobs than younger ones. Physicians with a higher level of education or senior professional title were less satisfied with their jobs than those with a lower level of education or junior professional tilte. Organizational management and the external environment were the most important factors influencing job satisfaction. CONCLUSION:Certified physicians working in PHCFs in rural Shandong had a slightly higher level of overall job satisfaciton than usual. After recent healthcare reforms, the job satisfaction of primary health care physicians in Shandong has changed little in comparison to that of physicians in other provinces in China. More attention should be paid to the impacts of these variables (age, educational background, technical title, monthly salary, form of employment, and years of service) on job satisfaction. Numerous recommendations may be considered to enhance organizational management and the external environment. The Government should enhace the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies to ensure that physicians continue to enjoy working in PHCFs. In short, the Government should pay more attention to protecting the legitimate rights and interests of primary care physicians when devising medical reforms.

Project description:ImportanceAntibiotic overuse contributes to adverse drug effects, increased costs, and antimicrobial resistance.ObjectiveTo evaluate peer-comparison audit and feedback to high-prescribing primary care physicians (PCPs) and assess the effect of targeted messaging on avoiding unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and avoiding long-duration prescribing.Design, setting, and participantsIn this 3-arm randomized clinical trial, administrative data collected from IQVIA's Xponent database were used to recruit the highest quartile of antibiotic-prescribing PCPs (n = 3500) in Ontario, Canada.InterventionsPhysicians were randomized 3:3:1 to receive a mailed letter sent in December 2018 addressing antibiotic treatment initiation (n = 1500), a letter addressing prescribing duration (n = 1500), or no letter (control; n = 500). Outliers at the 99th percentile at baseline for each arm were excluded from analysis.Main outcomes and measuresThe primary outcome was total number of antibiotic prescriptions over 12 months postintervention. Secondary outcomes were number of prolonged-duration prescriptions (>7 days) and antibiotic drug costs (in Canadian dollars). Robust Poisson regression controlling for baseline prescriptions was used for analysis.ResultsOf the 3465 PCPs included in analysis, 2405 (69.4%) were male, and 2116 (61.1%) were 25 or more years from their medical graduation. At baseline, PCPs receiving the antibiotic initiation letter and duration letter prescribed an average of 988 and 1000 antibiotic prescriptions, respectively; at 12 months postintervention, these PCPs prescribed an average of 849 and 851 antibiotic prescriptions, respectively. For the primary outcome of total antibiotic prescriptions 12 months postintervention, there was no statistically significant difference in total antibiotic use between PCPs who received the initiation letter compared with controls (relative risk [RR], 0.96; 97.5% CI, 0.92-1.01; P = .06) and a small statistically significant difference for the duration letter compared with controls (RR, 0.95; 97.5% CI, 0.91-1.00; P = .01). For PCPs receiving the duration letter, this corresponds to an average of 42 fewer antibiotic prescriptions over 12 months. There was no statistically significant difference between the letter arms. For the initiation letter, compared with controls there was an RR of 0.98 (97.5% CI, 0.93-1.03; P = .42) and 0.97 (97.5% CI, 0.92-1.02; P = .19) for the outcomes of prolonged-duration prescriptions and antibiotic drug costs, respectively. At baseline, PCPs who received the duration letter prescribed an average of 332 prolonged-duration prescriptions with $14 470 in drug costs. There was an 8.1% relative reduction (RR, 0.92; 97.5% CI, 0.87-0.97; P < .001) in prolonged-duration prescriptions, and a 6.1% relative reduction in antibiotic drug costs (RR, 0.94; 97.5% CI, 0.89-0.99; P = .01). This corresponds to an average of 24 fewer prolonged-duration prescriptions and $771 in drug cost savings per PCP over 12 months.Conclusions and relevanceIn this randomized clinical trial, a single mailed letter to the highest-prescribing PCPs in Ontario, Canada providing peer-comparison feedback, including messaging on limiting antibiotic-prescribing durations, led to statistically significant reductions in total and prolonged-duration antibiotic prescriptions, as well as drug costs.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03776383.

Project description:IntroductionThe irrational use of antibiotics is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance. This study aimed to explore how antibiotics were used in secondary and tertiary hospitals in Shaanxi Province, western China from 2013 to 2015.MethodA retrospective study was conducted with a sample of 16 hospitals in Shaanxi Province (2 tertiary and 14 secondary hospitals; 8 public and 8 private hospitals) using a stratified random sampling method. All of the macro data from these hospitals from 2013 to 2015 were analyzed. All collected data were double-entered and analyzed using Excel 2007.ResultsThe percentage of injectable antibiotic prescriptions was 26.6% of all of the antibiotic prescriptions in the secondary hospitals and 14.2% in the tertiary hospitals. Injectable antibiotic prescriptions in private tertiary hospitals (enter %) were more than two times that of public tertiary hospitals (enter %). In both tertiary and secondary hospitals, the percentage of antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients, emergency patients and inpatients were within the scope of the national standards, while the intensity of antibiotic use was higher than the national standard of 40 DDD/100 bed-days. The prophylactic antibiotic use rate in clean surgery was 40.4% in tertiary hospitals and 60.7% in secondary hospitals, which were both higher than the national standard of 30%. The preventive use rate of antibiotics in private tertiary hospitals (55.00%) was more than two times that of public tertiary hospitals (25.90%), and the rate was also higher in private secondary hospitals (61.50%) than in public secondary hospitals (59.70%).ConclusionsSubstantial antibiotic abuse occurred in the sample Chinese hospitals, especially in secondary hospitals. The government should continue to strengthen the administration of antimicrobial use in hospitals. At the same time, medical professional training and interventions for physicians should be conducted to fundamentally reduce the irrational use of antibiotics.

Project description:Background:Irrational use of antibiotics is a major driver of development of antibiotic resistance, which heavily threatens population health worldwide. Understanding the mechanism of physician's antibiotic prescribing decisions is increasingly highlighted to promote prudent use of antibiotics. Therefore, the current study aimed to fill the gap, modelling physician's antibiotic prescribing and identifying the potential intrinsic and external determinants of antibiotic prescribing in primary care. Methods:A total of 428,475 prescriptions from 499 prescribers in 65 primary care facilities in Hubei of China were audited. Teixeira Antibiotic Prescribing Behavioral Model (TAPBM) was referred as theoretical basis to identify intrinsic and external predictors of antibiotic prescriptions. A questionnaire survey was conducted, covering potential physician's intrinsic determinants (knowledge, attitudes and individual characteristics) and external factors both in individual level (patient pressure, time pressure and financial incentives) and institutional level (setting and local socio-economic development). A two-level path analysis was performed linking potential determinants of antibiotic use with physician's actual practices. Results:About 44.28% of the prescriptions contained antibiotics, with 9.28% containing two or more antibiotics. The multi-level path analysis revealed that knowledge was a significant predictor of attitudes (??=?0.154, p?<?0.05), but higher knowledge and attitudes failed to translate into antibiotic prescribing practices ((??=?-?0.076 - 0.039, p?>?0.05). Instead, external factors played a more important role and physician's antibiotic use was significantly associated with patient pressure (??=?0.102, p?=?0.022), time pressure (??=?-?0.164, p?=?0.002), financial incentives (??=?-?0.133- -?0.155, p?=?0.027) and institutional environments (rural area, ??=?0.408, p?=?0.002; and high socioeconomic setting, ??=?-?0.641 - -0.578, p?< 0.001?). The prescribers who were male (??=?-?0.168, p?=?0.007) or had lower qualification (??=?-?0.114, p?=?0.028) were also more likely to prescribe antibiotics than others. Conclusion:Antibiotic prescribing practices are complex process and associated with both intrinsic (prescriber) and external (patients and institutional environment) factors. A systematic approach is required to curb over-prescription of antibiotics. Apart from educating prescribers, it is equally important, if not more, to educate patients, break incentives and nurture professional culture within organization to reduce the overuse of antibiotics.

Dataset Information

Variations in antibiotic prescribing among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptions.

Publications

Variations in antibiotic prescribing among village doctors in a rural region of Shandong province, China: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptions.

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