The national ambulatory medical care survey.

This report uses the findings of the 1980 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to highlight the utilization of drugs in the phy­ sician’s office-based practice. It establishes several unique indexes for measuring the frequency and intensity with which drugs were ordered or provided, using these indexes to evaluate patterns of drug use as they varied with different patients, physicians, diagnoses, and othervariables of office-based ambulatory care. The report also presents findings on certain key characteristics of the drugs: their entry status (generic or brand name), prescription status (prescription or over-the-counter), level of potential abuse, and composition (single ingredient or combination form).