We use a recently proposed staggered difference-in-differences approach to investigate effects of adoption of an online consultation system in English general practice on antibiotic prescribing patterns. The target estimand is the average effect for each group of practices (defined by year of adoption) in each year, which we aggregate across all adopting practices, by group, and by time since adoption. We find strong evidence of a positive effect of adoption on antibiotic prescribing rates, though the magnitude of effect is relatively small. As time since adoption increases, the effect size increases, while effects vary across groups.

翻译：我们采用近期提出的交错差分法，探究英国全科医疗中在线咨询系统的采用对抗生素处方模式的影响。目标估计量为各年度内各采用组（按采用年份定义）的平均效应，并通过所有采用实践、组别及采用后时间维度进行汇总。研究发现，采用该系统对抗生素处方率存在显著正向影响，但效应幅度相对较小。随着采用后时间推移，效应量逐渐增强，且不同组别间的效应存在差异。