Do resident and staff physicians differ in the types and costs of antihypertensive drugs they select?

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Abstract
Objective:To compare the types and costs of drugs prescribed by resident and staff physicians treating patients with uncomplicated essential hypertension. Design:Cross-sectional study, using a computer-based medical record database. Setting:Primary care internal medicine clinic in a large teaching hospital. Patients/participants:Hypertensive patients seen by ten postgraduate year-1 (PGY-1) and PGY-2 primary care internal medicine residents and four staff physicians practicing in the same clinic. Measurements and main results:The types and costs of antihypertensive drugs prescribed for the patients treated by resident and staff physicians were compared. A larger proportion of patients of resident physicians than of staff physicians were treated with calcium channel blockers [19(15%) vs. 40(4%), p Conclusions:Resident physicians in this study selected more expensive medications to treat hypertension than did their faculty preceptors, even when differences in practice composition were considered.