Intervention against long-term use of hypnotics/sedatives in general practice

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of different strategies of intervention to reduce prescription of hypnotics/sedatives in general practice. All 356 general practitioners in the county of Aarhus, Denmark, were divided in three groups. One group received personal information at meetings, another received written material about proper use of hypnotics/sedatives and information about their own prescription rate, and the third group constituted a control group. The prescription rate was recorded before and after the intervention. There was a general decline in the prescription rate recordings, but there were no significant differences between the intervention groups and the control group.