Best Practices: An Intervention to Promote Evidence-Based Prescribing at a Large Psychiatric Hospital

An intervention to affect prescribing behavior was implemented at a large psychiatric hospital. Articles providing support for appropriate dosing of quetiapine were distributed to physicians, and peer discussions about prescribing practices were held. From April 2005 through December 2006, low-dose...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPsychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) Vol. 60; no. 3; pp. 294 - 296
Main Authors Stowell, Keith R, Ghinassi, Frank A, Fabian, Tanya J, Nash, Kenneth C, Haskett, Roger F
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Psychiatric Association 01.03.2009
American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc
Subjects
Antipsychotic Agents - administration & dosage
Benchmarking
Cost control
Data analysis
Data collection
Decision making
Dibenzothiazepines - administration & dosage
Drug Costs - statistics & numerical data
Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data
Evidence-Based Medicine - methods
Health education
Hospitals, Psychiatric - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Intervention
Mental health
Mental institutions
Monitoring systems
Patients
Pennsylvania
Physicians
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - standards
Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data
Program Evaluation - methods
Psychomotor Agitation - drug therapy
Psychotropic drugs
Quetiapine Fumarate
Sleep Wake Disorders - drug therapy
Teaching hospitals
Pennsylvania
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Summary:An intervention to affect prescribing behavior was implemented at a large psychiatric hospital. Articles providing support for appropriate dosing of quetiapine were distributed to physicians, and peer discussions about prescribing practices were held. From April 2005 through December 2006, low-dose quetiapine prescriptions (<or=200 mg per day) were flagged. For four months, physicians writing low-dose prescriptions received personal feedback from the unit medical director, who encouraged appropriate alternatives. New low-dose prescriptions fell from 107 in July 2005 to 23 in December 2006. Monthly costs for quetiapine prescriptions declined by approximately $8,000. The intervention appeared to bring physicians' behavior more in line with evidence-based practices.
ISSN:1075-2730
1557-9700
DOI:10.1176/ps.2009.60.3.294