Evaluation of drug prescription in Geneva primary care clinic 1997

Introduction: The analysis of drug prescription in a primary care clinic is a useful tool to evaluate the quality of medical care provided to outpatie nts. Methodology: We analysed drug prescriptions of the first consultations with '701 patients attending between May 14 and June 6 1997, and compared this data to previous surveys conducted in 1988, 1991 and 1993. Results and discussion: The three most common diagnoses were hypertension, lumbar pain and diabetes. The prescription of non steroidal antiinflammator y drugs (NSAID) increased from 7.1% in 1988 to 20% in 1997. For acute lumba r pain physicians prescribed NSAID to 58% of patients and paracetamol only to 33%. Further, doctors often prescribed muscle relaxants although an addi tional antalgic effect has not been proven. The prescription of psychotropi c drugs decreased from 22.5% in 1988 to 12.7% in 1997. ACE inhibitors and c alcium antagonists were the most frequently prescribed antihypertensive dru gs. Therefore physicians do not follow the American (JNC VI) and our instit utional guidelines, which recommend beta-blockers and diuretics as first li ne agents.