Table 1.

Summary of measures

Measure	Patient record	Telephone interviews with physicians	Telephone interviews with medical assistants	Practice registration form
Structure of practice
Sociodemographic data of physicians				√
Number of years worked as a physician / medical assistant		√	√	√
Type of practice (e.g. single or community practice)				√
Patient characteristics
Number of patients quartlerly				√
Sociodemographic data of patients	√
Percentage of patients older than 65 years				√
Diagnosis of patient	√
Patients participation in chronic care programs	√
Patients number of doctor visits	√
Medication
Long-term and acute medication (e.g. dosage and active ingredients)	√
Other therapies and interventions as well as their frequency and duration (e.g. physiotherapy, patient education and rehabilitation)	√
Weighting of influencing factors during medication prescription		√
Noncompliance of patients receiving polypharmacy		√
Reports of adverse events, interactions or other consequences of polypharmacy		√	√	√
Describing typical patients, reporting problems with medication		√
Taking account of recommendations in the PRISCUS-List				√
Organization and processes in practice
Needed time for treating patients receiving polypharmacy		√	√
Difficulties on patient admission			√
Potential for changing practice organization to improve the treatment of patients receiving polypharmacy		√		√
Potential and difficulties concerning cooperation with pharmacies		√
Use of individual case vignettes in practice		√
Evidence of formal qualifications of medical assistants			√	√