The Effect of Interactive Group Discussion among Physicians to Promote Rational use of Drugs

Background and purpose: Rational use of drugs remains a problem in Iran. Polypharmacy, overuse of antibiotic, misuse and overuse of injections, short consulting time and poor patient compliance are common patterns of irrational use of drugs in Eastern Azarbydjan - Iran. Concerning the promotion of rational use of drugs, this study aimed the effect of educational intervention as interactive group discussion on prescribing behavior of Tabriz Northwest physicians.Methods: Fifty one general physicians from private and public sectors in Northwest of Tabriz were selected randomly and their prescriptions were analyzed. A questionnaire with 8 close questions was completed for each prescription to investigate all aspects of prescribing patterns. By a professional software the information of the prescriptions was analyzed and drug prescribing indicators such as percentage of patients receiving antibiotics, glucocorticoids and other drug groups were determined.The method of intervention included focus group and interactive group discussions. Focus group was built in group of health professionals to collect training material using pre-intervention results for interactive group discussion. The physicians were divided into two groups of control andintervention groups. Following pre-intervention study the physicians of intervention group were discussed and trained in one-day interactive group discussion course using pre-intervention data and educational materials obtained from the focus group discussion.Results: The results of pre-intervention study showed that the average number of drugs in each prescription was 3.82. The percentage of patients receiving antibiotics, corticosteroids and injections were 40.81, 25.94 and 58.04 %, respectively. The results of this survey show great differences from WHO and international standards. Following the intervention the indicators were similar in both intervened and non-intervened groups and also were same as the pre-intervention results.Conclusion: The results of this study show that a very close and effective method of training program as an interactive group discussion has no beneficial effects on improving rational prescription behavior of general physicians involved in this study. To promote rational prescription the underlying factors must be considered more.