RESUMEN
We aimed to investigate the effect of rational pharmacotherapy workshop for interns on the rationality, cost and number of drugs prescribed. The participants were asked to prescribe a medication for acute noninflammatory osteoarthritis [ANOA], acute bacterial rhinosinusitis [ARS], acute otitis media [AOM], acute uncomplicated cystitis [AC], and acute bacterial tonsillopharyngitis [ABT] before and after workshop. Total 3000 prescriptions were scored regarding rationality of the drug choice [0-10], format [0-5], instructions [0-4], legibility [0-1] and total [0-20 points]. The mean number of drug[s] and total costs per prescription were calculated. Paired samples t-test was used to compare the pre- and post score means. Total pre- and post-prescribing scores [0-20] were significantly different [p=0.00 for each]: ANOA [13.59 +/- 0.27, 18.33 +/- 0.18], ARS [13.26 +/- 0.18, 15.15 +/- 0.17], AOM [12.58 +/- 0.26, 14.66 +/- 0.27], AC [13.53 +/- 0.17, 15.76 +/- 0.20], ABT [13.54 +/- 0.24, 15.49 +/- 0.28]. Mean number of drugs per prescription for the indications in the pre-test and post-test were: ANOA [1.24 +/- 0.29, 1.02 +/- 0.01, p=0.00], ARS [2.08 +/- 0.04, 2.00 +/- 0.04, p=0.16], AOM [1.66 +/- 0.04 and 1.69 +/- 0.03, p=0.54], AC [1.55 +/- 0.04, 1.39 +/- 0.03, p=0.00] and ABT [2.10 +/- 0.05, 1.81 +/- 0.05, p=0.00]. Mean costs per prescription in Turkish Liras: ANOA [6.31 +/- 0.29, 4.60 +/- 0.05, p=0.00], ARS [13.80 +/- 0.38, 4.63 +/- 0.04, p=0.00], AOM [10.18 +/- 0.28, 4.41 +/- 0.07, p=0.00], AC [11.33 +/- 0.21, 10.68 +/- 0.18, p=0.01] and ABT [12.03 +/- 0.34 and 10.41 +/- 0.35, p=0.00]. Training produced a significant improvement in rational prescribing