title: Decision support for community-based empirical antibiotic prescribing.
abstract: Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing is common, and the consequences are severe. Prescribing guidelines are intended to reduce inappropriate prescribing. Guidelines, though, give empirical antibiotic treatment recommendations that are general and not tailored to local prevalence patterns. A computerized decision support system for empirical antibiotic prescribing that considers the likely infectious organism, antibiotic susceptibility, and patient characteristics, should decrease inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. We describe the design of such a system and the setting for its evaluation.
authors.affiliation: McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Teltsch
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pinelle
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Winslade
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Buckeridge
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tamblyn
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004360:Drug Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D004363:Drug Utilization; D006300:Health Services Misuse; D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents