Physicians often tend to view individual patients as unique, and may feel that guidelines are never specific enough to be able to deal with the unique patient in front of them. Auditing should not be punitive - but supportive. Knowing that prescribing will be audited will in itself serve as a break on more egregious practices. It will force practice to regress to the mean as established by the guidelines. Where an outlying practice is justified, it can be explained and justified during the audit.
Audits are equally appropriate in rich and poor countries.
They are most easily done in hospitals, where the ability to control physician behavior is most easily done, and where there are mechanisms in place to form committees to evaluate practice. Forming audit committees it not so easily done in outpatient practice, especially in outpatient private practice. Many physicians will view them as a waste of time, especially if they detract from private practice income. Appropriate Advertising and Promotion Legal advertising and promotion is not synonymous with appropriate advertising and promotion. Pharmaceutical companies promote products in order to maximize profits, rather than maximizing the prudent use of drugs.