A way of achieving more rational drug prescribing?

The effect on prescribing of co‐operation between four pharmacists and 10 general medical practitioners in west Rotterdam, the Netherlands, was studied using the case‐control method. Prescribing statistics provided by the Rotterdam Health Insurance Foundation for the years 1979‐1982 were used to examine the effect of co‐operation on the number of prescriptions per year, the number of units of supply per year and the cost of drugs supplied. The results show that it is possible to standardise drug therapy used by a group of GPs and pharmacists, that prescribing agreements can be maintained over a number of years and that doctors who co‐operate with pharmacists prescribe more rationally and more cheaply than those who do not. 1991 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

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