Table 3.
Physician behaviour in light of their opinion on antibiotic prescription issues prior to C-reactive protein (CRP) testing, after viewing the actual CRP level.1
| Antibiotics retracted[n (%)] | Decision unchanged[n (%)] | Antibiotics prescribed[n (%)] | p Values2 | |
| Visits to GP group (n = 190) | 0.22 | |||
| CRP crucial for treatment | 2 (3.1) | 53 (82) | 10 (15) | |
| CRP unnecessary for treatment | 2 (1.6) | 113 (90) | 10 (8.0) | |
| Visits to non-specialist GP group (n = 141) | 0.011 | |||
| CRP crucial for treatment | 9 (14) | 48 (74) | 8 (12) | |
| CRP unnecessary for treatment | 1 (1.3) | 68 (90) | 7 (9.2) | |
| Total visits (n = 331)3 | 0.0018 | |||
| CRP crucial for treatment | 11 (8.5) | 101 (78) | 18 (14) | |
| CRP unnecessary for treatment | 3 (1.5) | 181 (90) | 17 (8.5) |
1
“Antibiotics retracted” and “Antibiotics prescribed” means change in approach to prescribing antibiotics.
2
Chi-square test.
3
2.6% (n = 9) did not check the “yes” or “no” box on the case report form, four in the GP group, five in the non-specialist GP group.