ABSTRACT
The prescribing of pharmaceuticals by health care providers is influenced by many factors. The significance of these factors is an important consideration to public health advocates and government agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, physician and provider associations, medical ethics researchers, patient consumers, and other stakeholders in health care. Better understanding of the factors that motivate physician prescribing can bring about more efficient use of health care resources through the improved dissemination of information and more informed decision making. This paper attempts to provide a sound and inclusive review of the influences upon physician prescribing patterns in the extant literature. This review identifies several factors as being highly influential upon physician prescribing: peer influence, financial and managed care considerations, pharmaceutical representatives and drug samples, and direct-to-consumer advertising. To date, several key areas have not been well researched; these include the perceived price of a drug, the role of new technology, and the impact of physician experience. Based upon the literature review, a theoretical model of individual physician prescribing in the outpatient setting is proposed. Further research might be directed toward determining the influence of each factor upon physician prescribing and testing the overall model and interactions among its individual components.
