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New drug prescribing by hospital doctors: The nature and meaning of knowledge

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  • Prosser, Helen
  • Walley, Tom

Abstract

In the UK the high cost of new drugs is partly accountable for the growth in spending on prescription drugs. Most prescribing takes place in general practice and the influence of secondary care prescribing on primary care prescribing is well recognized; yet the factors that influence hospital prescribing have been little researched. Drawing on accounts of actual prescribing events from hospital doctors from a range of specialities, we investigated the processes by which new drugs come into practice, from hospital doctors' awareness of new drugs to the assimilation and interpretation of evidential sources. The determinants of new drug prescribing were interconnected within four forms of knowledge: scientific knowledge, social knowledge, patient knowledge and experiential knowledge. Furthermore, the nature of knowledge could only be understood within its situated context. The revelation of multiple and contingent forms of knowledge highlights the problematic nature of knowledge construction within the approaches of evidence-based medicine.

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  • Prosser, Helen & Walley, Tom, 2006. "New drug prescribing by hospital doctors: The nature and meaning of knowledge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(7), pages 1565-1578, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:62:y:2006:i:7:p:1565-1578
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    2. Benedek, Gábor & Lublóy, Ágnes & Keresztúri, Judit Lilla, 2015. "Az orvosok közötti kapcsolatok szerepe az új gyógyszerek elfogadásában [The impacts of three types of social interaction on the spread of new types of drug]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 786-810.
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