IMPORTANCE Appropriate antibiotic use is a key strategy to control antibacterial resistance. The first step in achieving this is to identify the major problems in antibiotic prescription in health care facilities, especially in primary health care settings, which is where most patients receive medical care. OBJECTIVE To identify current patterns of antibiotic use and explore the reasons for i...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence and predictors of medications deemed potentially inappropriate for the elderly among family physicians' patients aged 65 and older (seniors) taking multiple prescribed medications. METHODS Forty-eight randomly selected family practices in 16 towns and cities in Southern Ontario, Canada and 889 of their senior patients were recruited into a randomized trial...

Background: In the last decades, there has been an escalating consumption of antibiotics with the number of antibiotic prescriptions increasing worldwide. Since children are more vulnerable to infectious disease than adults, more antibiotics are prescribed for them. Inappropriate use of antibiotics has resulted in a major increase in the development of multi-drug resistant pathogens with great ...

PURPOSE Inappropriate use of antibiotics is an important health problem that is related to increasing bacterial resistance. Despite its relevance, many health institutions assign very limited resources to improving prescribing practices. An antimicrobial stewardship programme (APS) centred on patients discharged from the ICU could efficiently undertake this task. METHODS During this six month...