Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Oct 14;9(10):e109594.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109594. eCollection 2014.

Effect of publicly reporting performance data of medicine use on injection use: a quasi-experimental study

Xuan Wang  1 , Yuqing Tang  1 , Xiaopeng Zhang  1 , Xi Yin  1 , Xin Du  1 , Xinping Zhang  1
Affiliations

Effect of publicly reporting performance data of medicine use on injection use: a quasi-experimental study

Xuan Wang et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Inappropriate use of prescribing pharmaceuticals, particularly injections, not only affects the quality of medical care, but also leads to an increase in medical expenses. Publicly reporting performance data of medical care is becoming a common health policy tool adopted to supervise medical quality. To our knowledge, few studies about public reporting applied to medicine use have been reported. This study intended to introduce public reporting in the field of medicine use, and evaluate the effect of publicly reporting performance data of medicine use on the use of injections.

Methods: The research sites were 20 primary healthcare institutions in Q City, Hubei. By matching, the institutions were divided into the intervention group and control group. A quasi-experimental design was applied in this study. In the intervention group, the performance data of medicine use were publicly reported. The injection prescribing rates of the two groups before and after intervention were measured and compared. Difference-in-difference method and logistic regression were employed to estimate the effect of public reporting on injection use.

Results: Public reporting led to a reduction of approximately 4% in the injection prescribing rate four months after intervention (OR = 0.96; 95%CI: 0.94, 0.97). The intervention effect was inconsistent in each month after intervention, and it was most positive in the second month after intervention (OR = 0.90; 95%CI: 0.89, 0.92).

Conclusions: In general, publicly reporting performance data of medicine use may have positive effects on injection use to some extent. Further research is needed to investigate the mechanism by which public reporting influences injection use. Comprehensive measures are also necessary to promote the rational use of injections.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Change in injection prescribing rate by month.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. WHO Website. Medicines: Rational Use of Medicines. Available: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs338/en/. Accessed: 2012 March.
    1. le Grand A, Hogerzeil HV, Haaijer-Ruskamp FM (1999) Intervention research in rational use of drugs: a review. Health policy and planning 14(2): 89–102. - PubMed
    1. Edwards IRAJ (2000) Adverse drug reactions: definitions, diagnosis, and management. The Lancet 356: 1255–1259. - PubMed
    1. Hu S, Chen W, Cheng X, Chen K, Zhou H, et al.. (2001) Pharmaceutical cost-containment policy: experiences in Shanghai, China. Health Policy and Planning (Suppl 2): 4–9. - PubMed
    1. WHO (2009) Medicines Use in Primary Care in Developing and Transitional Countries: Fact Book Summarizing Results from Studies Reported between 1990 and 2006. Geneva, World Health Organization.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources