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"Off-label" Prescribing of Gabapentin: An Exploratory Study

“Off-label” use occurs when a medication is prescribed for non-approved purposes. This case study explored physician experiences with prescribing gabapentin off-label. Semi-structured interviews with 10 specialists in the Greater Toronto Area provided data that were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Specialists described prescribing gabapentin off-label as common practice and few expressed concerns about its safety. Knowledge from various interconnected sources influenced off-label prescribing decisions. These included: social knowledge, scientific knowledge, knowledge of the drug, knowledge of the patient, and experiential knowledge. Findings were similar to previous studies examining physician prescribing behaviour. Furthermore, lack of provincial-government reimbursement for off-label uses of gabapentin (knowledge of drug coverage) was a significant barrier to prescribing. Off-label prescribing differs from other types of prescribing since there is often a lack of scientific evidence for off-label uses. The complexities of the off-label prescribing process and the degree of importance between the various influences require further exploration.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:OTU.1807/18303
Date18 January 2010
CreatorsFukuda, Nami Christine
ContributorsKohler, Jillian Clare
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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