Colleague interactions and new drug prescribing behavior: The case of the initial prescription of antidepressants in Taiwanese medical centers

Shu-Jou Lin, Kuan-An Jan and Jen-Tse Kao

Social Science & Medicine, 2011, vol. 73, issue 8, 1208-1213

Abstract: This research explores the social factors influencing hospital physicians’ initial adoption of duloxetine hydrochloride, with a focus on colleague interactions. The study analyzes archival data compiled by the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to examine how the prescribing decisions made by psychiatrists’ colleagues influence the likelihood of the psychiatrists’ initial prescription. The results show that the adoption ratio of a physician’s colleagues in a medical center is positively associated with the likelihood of a physician’s adoption of the new drug. Specifically, colleague groups with similar and longer tenure as well as similar and older age have significantly positive effects. Colleague groups with the same and different gender also have positive effects. In summary, tenure and age, rather than gender, are vital sources of heterogeneous colleague interactions.

Keywords: Adoption of new medicine; Prescribing behavior; Social interactions; Hospital prescribing; Taiwan; Psychiatrists (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953611004576
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:73:y:2011:i:8:p:1208-1213

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.06.065

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().