It is important that general practitioners prescribe fewer antibiotics. Can Topicus use data to provide insight into the behaviour of general practitioners regarding prescription of antibiotics and generate data for scientific research in order to improve prescribing behaviour?
More and more bacteria are insensitive to antibiotics and this is endangering public health worldwide. In 2015, the Dutch government launched a programme to combat antibiotic resistance and RIVM was given a major role to play. Several projects were harnessed, including tackling antibiotic resistance in primary care. 80% of antibiotics in the Netherlands are prescribed by general practitioners. Although they are doing well internationally, as they are restrained in their prescribing behaviour, there is still room for improvement. For example, approximately one in three antibiotic prescriptions does not comply with the guidelines of the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG) and there is a substantial difference in prescribing behaviour between GPs.
It is important that GPs prescribe less antibiotics and if they do, that it is the first-choice medicine. Can you use data to provide insight into antibiotic prescribing behaviour for GPs and generate data for scientific research to improve prescribing behaviour?
In order to gain insight into the bottlenecks in prescribing behaviour and to create a base for a qualitative improvement, a report has been drawn up for general practitioners. A set of antibiotic prescription policy indicators, developed by University Medical Centre Utrecht in cooperation with National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, forms the starting point of this report. The report is available as standard to all GPs connected to VIPLive. They can download the report to view their own figures. All scores - number of prescriptions, first and second choice medicines per indication and overall prescribing behaviour per indication - are clearly presented in bar charts. It is also possible for a group of GPs to benchmark the data, so that they can be compared with each other. This is done during a Pharmacotherapeutic Consultation (FTO) under the supervision of a general practitioner expert.
The report provides clear insight into where you stand as a GP and what you could possibly do to improve your prescribing behaviour. Discussing the benchmark during FTOs provides additional depth, certainly if these are repeated periodically by practices. The effect of possible interventions then becomes clear. Moreover, it creates a data flow that allows the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment to gauge how prescribing antibiotics for various indications is faring throughout the Netherlands. If many GPs integrate this method into their practice and the discussions become widespread, it will certainly have an impact at macro level.
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