That's very good to know. I think more doctors need to know that.
This would be a fundamental systematic change but if there were standards in prescription writing such that in addition to what you're prescribing you would prescribe the indication for it, then this could be double-checked by the pharmacist. If the pharmacist received this “indication: ear infection” and again it was Ceclor, then the pharmacist could double-check it and call the doctor and ask, “Are you sure you want to do this?” I had a hospital-based practice, and in hospitals this would happen all the time. It was a teaching hospital so there were in-hospital pharmacists who would do that quite regularly. They would ask, “Are you sure this is the right drug? We've noticed a local resistance pattern and we think that this is better.” Would it be helpful if we were to have a prescription monitoring program or prescription writing program for the outpatient setting?