Prescribing practices and attitudes toward giving children antibiotics.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether overprescribing is common in treatment of pediatric upper respiratory infections and to examine factors that influence prescribing antibiotics for children.


METHODS
A random, stratified sample of practising family physicians was surveyed with a mailed questionnaire. Initial nonresponders were mailed a second questionnaire.


METHODS
British Columbia.


METHODS
A total of 608 general and family physicians. Response rate was 64%; 392/612 surveys were completed.


METHODS
Physicians' self-reported prescribing practices and knowledge of and attitudes toward using antibiotics for children's upper respiratory tract infections.


RESULTS
Relative to treatment guidelines developed for the study, most physicians responded appropriately to the cough (94%) and lobar pneumonia (99.1%) vignettes. More than half the physicians (56.5%) reported they would immediately prescribe antibiotics for tympanic membrane dysfunction, and 79.4% indicated they would prescribe antibiotics for pharyngitis without obtaining a laboratory culture. Approximately 25% of physicians in the study did not believe that prior antibiotic use increased personal risk for acquiring drug-resistant infection, and 23.1% did not believe that antibiotic use was an important factor in promoting resistance in their communities.


CONCLUSIONS
Education in current treatment of pediatric upper respiratory tract illnesses and antimicrobial drug resistance is required. The high response to the questionnaire (64%) and the many requests from physicians to receive the project's educational materials (45%) indicate a high level of interest in this subject.
Paluck
E
E
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver.
Katzenstein
D
D
Frankish
C J
CJ
Herbert
C P
CP
Milner
R
R
Speert
D
D
Chambers
K
K
D000367:Age Factors; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001955:British Columbia; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002983:Clinical Competence; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents