House officer attitudes, beliefs, and recording behavior associated with prescribing minor tranquilizers

Abstract

Because benzodiazepines are frequently and often inappropriately prescribed by internists, we wished to examine the attitudes, beliefs, and recording behavior of internal medicine house staff who prescribe these medications to patients attending a general medicine clinic. Over a 5‐month period, we reviewed the medical records of patients prescribed both a benzodiazepine and a nonbenzodiazepine for clinical information related to prescribing these medications. At the close of the collection, all house staff completed a series of 12 questions about the management and treatment of hypertension and anxiety. Forty‐five house staff were included in our study. As a group, these house staff omitted information significantly more often for benzodiazepines than for nonbenzodiazepines and endorsed attitudes that were significantly less favorable toward prescribing the former. In summary, inconsistency in house officer recording of benzodiazepine prescriptions can be explained in part by their unfavorable attitudes toward prescribing these medications.