title: Management of respiratory tract infections in primary care in Poland--results of the happy audit 2 project.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Polish results of the international Happy Audit 2 project are reported which objective was to present therapeutic decisions made by general practitioners (especially antibiotics prescribed) and diagnostic methods applied to patients with respiratory tract infections (RTI).
  
  
  METHODS
  [corrected] Following each visit of patient with respiratory tract infection, general practitioners participating in the study completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire included patient's data (age, gender), the duration of disease, clinical symptoms, diagnosis, prescribed antibiotics, additional testing as well as the influence of various factors on therapeutic decision.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Having considered the results of HappyAudit in Poland, a total of 5,137 office visits of patients reporting symptoms of RTIs were analyzed. The average duration of symptoms before visiting GP was 4.8 days (compared to average 4.4 in other countries). Worth noting is that additional testing in diagnosis of RTIs was performed less frequently in Poland: rapid streptococcal test was conducted in 0.4% of cases (European average: 4.45%), CRP--in 2.2% of patients (average from other countries: 14.2%) and chest X-ray in 2.3% of cases compared to 14% in other project's participants. In Poland, the most frequently applied antibiotic was amoxicillin, which was used in 28.9% of cases ended with antibiotic prescribing (amoxicillin/pivampicillin were also predominant in other countries, excluding Sweden). In Poland, macrolides (22.4% of all prescriptions for antibiotic) and cephalosporins (12.1%) were frequently used. The results indicate that narrow-spectrum antibiotics are prescribed in Poland less frequently, with the example being penicillin V which was prescribed in 6.7% of patients with RTIs who were given antibiotic.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Comparing the results of Happy Audit 2 in Poland and other project's participants, the major differences consist in rare use of phenoxymethylpenicillin in favour of amoxicillin and macrolides as well as infrequent use of additional testing in diagnosis of RTIs in Poland.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Strumiło
authors.forename: Sławomir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chlabicz
authors.forename: Ingvar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ovhed
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zieliński
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pytel-Krolczuk
authors.forename: Buczkowski
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Krzysztof
authors.forename: Maciek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Godycki-Cwirko
authors.forename: Ewelina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gowin
authors.forename: Zbigniew
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gugnowski
authors.forename: Lech
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Panasiuk
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Makowiec-Dyrda
authors.forename: Artur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mierzecki
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sieberto
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sławin
authors.forename: Elzbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tomiak
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054869:Clinical Audit / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007844:Latvia; D008097:Lithuania; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011044:Poland; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D012426:Russia; D013548:Sweden; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents