Physicians under Pressure: Evidence from Antibiotics Prescribing in England.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Many physicians are experiencing increasing demands from both their patients and society. Evidence is scarce on the consequences of the pressure on physicians' decision making. We present a theoretical framework and predict that increasing pressure may make physicians disregard societal welfare when treating patients.

Setting

We test our prediction on general practitioners' antibiotic-prescribing choices. Because prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics does not require microbiological testing, it can be performed more quickly than prescribing for narrow-spectrum antibiotics and is therefore often preferred by the patient. In contrast, from a societal perspective, inappropriate prescribing of broad-spectrum antibiotics should be minimized as it may contribute to ant

SUBMITTER: Allen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8918864 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature