DARTNet Institute Informing Practice Improving Care
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Research > Impact of Information Diffusion on Prescribing Behaviors
Datasets > Impact of Information Diffusion on Prescribing Behaviors

Interdisciplinary Studies of the Impact of Information Diffusion on Prescribing Behaviors: A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach

Physician prescribing behavior needs to adapt over time as new information on best practices are developed. We believe that this behavior change occurs as a result of information sharing, and that a large component of this adaptive development occurs via peer-to-peer influence. In our work, we hope to study, describe, and model physician behavior change as a network phenomenon. We will derive rules for optimal management from the JNC-7 and JNC-8 publications. We will use a database including elements relevant to hypertension management including clinical phenomena related to prescribing decisions as the test-bed. From time elements and elements describing physician relationships to each other, including practice location and shared-patient data, we can identify the peer network and the direction of behavior change.

Project Lead: Leonard Samuels (Medicine) Co-Investigators: Chaomei Chen (College of Computing and Informatics), Ani Hsieh (Engineering), Neal Handly (Medicine), Lucy Robinson (Biostatistics and Epidemiology), Jian-Min Yuan (Physics)

Funding

Drexel University grant, $49,820, PI: Leonard Samuels, MD

Dataset Description

Type of Patients Included N Data Elements
Patients with hypertension treated in family practice environments 180359
  • Diagnoses
  • Prescribed Medications
  • Date of prescriptions
  • Visit information
  • Gender
  • Age
  • Race
  • Blood pressure
  • Creatinine
  • Referrals
  • Practice location