18 Mar 2023 • According to studies, shorter visits between patients and their doctors may increase the chance of improper prescriptions. The study, which was published online on March 10 in JAMA Health Forum, discovered that as the length of visits decreased, physicians more frequently prescribed unwarranted prescriptions of antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections. More than 8 million primary care visits were recorded in electronic health records in 2017, which Neprash and colleagues analysed. More than 4.3 million individuals and 8091 primary care doctors were involved in the study. The likelihood of incorrect prescribing is clearly and somewhat faintly impacted by visit length. Each additional minute of visit time reduced the chance of an inappropriate prescription by 0.11 % across the whole sample of primary care visits. For instance, improper antibiotic prescriptions occurred in roughly 57% of 10-minute visits. For visits lasting 20 minutes, the percentage falls to under 54%. According to the survey, a primary care visit lasts an average of 18 minutes. The researchers emphasised that incorrect prescribing is more likely the outcome of a busy schedule for doctors and not a deliberate choice.

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