title: Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns in Outpatient Emergency Clinics at Queen Rania Al Abdullah II Children's Hospital, Jordan, 2013.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate antibiotics prescribing patterns in the outpatient pediatric emergency clinic at Queen Rania Al Abdullah II Children's Hospital at Royal Medical Services in Amman, Jordan.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data was collected from the emergency pharmacy over the period of a -five consecutive months. The methodology recommended by the World Health Organization for investigating drug use in a health facility was followed. The study measures the percentage of encounter with a prescribed antibiotic and the percentage share of each antibiotic category. The distribution of diagnostic categories that accounted for all antibiotics being prescribed and the distribution of each antibiotic being prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) were also measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antibiotic prescribing was frequent during pediatric visits to the outpatient pediatric emergency clinic resulting in a high percentage of encounters (85%) when compared to appropriate. Emergency physicians continue to frequently prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics which accounted for approximately (60%) of the total prescribed antibiotics and (83%) of prescribed antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections and macrolides (primarily azithromycin) were the leading class among them.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed high consumption of antibiotics by emergency department pediatricians which highlight the importance for interventions to promote rational and judicious prescribing. An insight into factors influencing antibiotics prescribing patterns by military prescribers is required.
authors.affiliation: MSc in Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control (University of Bradford, UK). Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Sahar I
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Al-Niemat
authors.affiliation: MSc in Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control (University of Bradford, UK). Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Tareq M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Aljbouri
authors.affiliation: MSc in Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control (University of Bradford, UK). Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Lana S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Goussous
authors.affiliation: MSc in Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control (University of Bradford, UK). Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Rania A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Efaishat
authors.affiliation: MSc in Pharmaceutical Services and Medicines Control (University of Bradford, UK). Royal Medical Services, Amman, Jordan.
authors.forename: Rehab K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Salah
keywords: Antibiotics; Children; Military prescribers; Prescribing patterns; Rational use