“Psychiatry is not a science like others” - a focus group study on psychotropic prescribing in primary care

BMC Family Practice

Research Article

Staffan A Svensson¹  Susanna M Wallerstedt²  Tove M Hedenrud³ 

[1]Angered Medical Centre, Angereds Torg 5, 424 65, Angered, Sweden

[2]Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Bruna stråket 21, 413 45, Gothenburg, Sweden

[3]Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, University of Gothenburg, P.O. Box 453, 405 30, Gothenburg, Sweden

关键词: Prescribing;    Psychotropic drugs;    Primary health care;    Focus groups;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2296-14-115

 received in 2013-03-11, accepted in 2013-07-01,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPsychotropic drug prescribing is problematic and knowledge of factors affecting the initiation and maintenance of such prescribing is incomplete. Such knowledge could provide a basis for the design of interventions to change prescribing patterns for psychotropics. The aim of this study was to explore the views of general practitioners (GPs), GP interns, and heads of primary care units on factors affecting the prescribing of psychotropic drugs in primary care.MethodsWe performed four focus group discussions in Gothenburg, Sweden, with a total of 21 participants (GPs, GP interns, and heads of primary care units). The focus group discussions were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using manifest content analysis.ResultsThree different themes emerged from the focus group discussions. The first theme Seeking care for symptoms, reflects the participants’ understanding of why patients approach primary care and comprised categories such as knowledge, attitudes, and society and the media. The second theme, Lacking a framework, resources, and treatment alternatives, which reflects the conditions for the physician-patient interaction, comprised categories such as economy and resources, technology, and organizational aspects. The third theme, Restricting or maintaining prescriptions, with the subthemes Individual factors and External influences, reflects the physicians’ internal decision making and comprised categories such as emotions, knowledge, and pharmaceutical industry.ConclusionThe results of the present study indicate that a variety of factors may affect the prescribing of psychotropic medications in primary care. Many factors were related to characteristics of the patient, the physician or their interaction, rather than the patients’ medical needs per se. The results may be useful for interventions to improve psychotropic prescribing in primary care.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hedenrud et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013