Table 2:

Overview of practices and patients for a study of antimicrobial prescribing for urinary tract infection

CharacteristicStudy arm; mean ± SD*
Intervention arm AIntervention arm BControl
Practice
No. of GPs, median FTE (range)2.3 (1.0–5.5)2.0 (1.0–5.0)2.0 (1.0–4.5)
Time in practice, yr18.7 ± 12.514.8 ± 11.416.9 ± 8.8
No. of practice contacts per yr14 810 ± 10 16915 464 ± 12 95012 820 ± 7 661
No. of antimicrobial prescriptions per 100 practice contacts14.1 ± 4.611.0 ± 4.812.2 ± 4.1
Study
No. of UTI consultations
 Baseline (before intervention†)381309360
 During intervention†743738783
 Subtotal, baseline + intervention†112410471143
 Follow-up211241441
 Repeat consultations (intervention†)181436
During intervention period
No. (%) of consultations with urine samples350 (47.1)380 (51.5)377 (48.1)
No. (%) of samples with growth231 (66.0)248 (65.3)239 (63.4)
Consultations (by practice)
 Age of patients, yr56.3 ± 3.351.5 ± 11.454.1 ± 7.7
 Sex of patients, % male12.0 ± 6.612.4 ± 7.88.3 ± 5.6
 % of patients with medical card68.1 ± 14.462.1 ± 17.555.3 ± 18.8

  • Note: FTE = full-time equivalent, GP = general practitioner, SD = standard deviation, UTI = urinary tract infection.

  • ↵* Except where indicated otherwise.

  • ↵† Here, ”intervention” refers to the intervention period (phases 2 and 3); there was no intervention for the control group.