Objective: To find the origin of pharmacological prescriptions written in the primary care ambit, the effect of training on the prescribers and the influence of the organisational structure of the centres where they work on the quality of the drugs prescribed.
Design: Observational study of a crossover type.
Setting: Two health centres and two consulting-rooms in Areas 11 and 12, Valencia.
Measurements and main results: The sample calculated corresponded to 664 prescriptions per centre. The origin of the prescription differed, depending on the model, so that in the consulting-rooms the origin of 55% of prescriptions was specialist care, whereas in the health centres this percentage went down to 31%. There were significant differences (p < 0.0001) in the quality of prescription in different organisational structures, but there were no significant differences among professionals with different training.
Conclusions: A high percentage of pharmacological prescriptions have their origin in specialist care. Prescription quality is conditioned basically by the organisational model and is appreciably better in health centres.