1. Quality-of-Care Implications of Antimicrobial Prescription Patterns for Acute Respiratory Tract Infections
- Author
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Liron Sinvani, Claire Popplewell, Michael Qiu, Gisele Wolf-Klein, Michele Pisano, Bruce Hirsch, Nina Kohn, Kayla D. Finuf, Renee Pekmezaris, and Vansha Singh
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Respiratory tract infections ,medicine.drug_class ,business.industry ,Health Policy ,Antibiotics ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,MEDLINE ,Emergency department ,Antimicrobial ,Anti-Bacterial Agents ,Prescriptions ,Anti-Infective Agents ,Ambulatory care ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Humans ,Practice Patterns, Physicians' ,Medical prescription ,Quality of care ,business ,Respiratory Tract Infections ,Retrospective Studies - Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that half of the antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in ambulatory care settings are unnecessary. To better understand the quality-of-care implications of prescription patterns for ARTIs, we conducted a retrospective chart review of outpatient ARTI visits, across a large integrated health system, and examined the association of patient characteristics with receiving antimicrobials, as well as the association between receiving antimicrobials and healthcare utilization (outpatient and emergency department visits). We found that 55.4% of all ARTI outpatients were treated with antimicrobials. There was no association between patient demographics and antimicrobial prescriptions on either the first (p < .0771) or follow-up (p < .6316) visits. A lower comorbidity score was significantly associated with receiving antimicrobials (p < .0022). Patients who received antimicrobials at the first visit had significantly higher number of follow-up visits (p < .005) and more follow-up antimicrobial prescriptions (p < .0066) as compared with patients who did not receive antimicrobials at the first visit. Our results highlight the potential for clinicians to improve quality of care in ARTI management.
- Published
- 2021
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