BACKGROUND To define appropriate antibiotic use for patients with a complicated urinary tract infection (UTI), we developed in a previous study a key set of 4 valid, guideline-based quality indicators (QIs). In the current study, we evaluated the association between appropriate antibiotic use for patients with a complicated UTI, as defined by these QIs, and length of hospital stay (LOS). METH...

BACKGROUND Overuse of antibiotics for acute respiratory infections is an important public health problem and occurs in part because of pressure on physicians by patients to prescribe them. We hypothesized that if acute respiratory infections are called "chest colds" or "viral infections" rather than "bronchitis," patients will be satisfied with the diagnosis and more satisfied with not receivin...

OBJECTIVE To collect baseline data on infectious diseases and antibiotic use in two Andean indigenous communities in Ecuador in order to determine the feasibility and acceptability of applying an ecosystem approach to address associated problems. METHODS In visits to 65 households with children under age 5 years, environmental risk factors for infectious diseases were evaluated through rapid ...

BACKGROUND Parent education is an integral component to promoting judicious antibiotic use. Opportunities to educate parents directly are limited. Child care providers are in a position to relay information to parents. METHODS A group-randomized trial assessed the impact of a child care center staff intervention on parental knowledge and attitudes regarding appropriate antibiotic use. A 9-poi...

Many quality indicators for appropriate antibiotic use have been developed. We aimed to make a systematic inventory, including the development methodology and validation procedures, of currently available quality indicators (QIs) for appropriate antibiotic use in hospitalized adult patients. We performed a literature search in the Pubmed interface. From the included articles we abstracted i) th...

In this issue of American Family Physician, Zoorob and colleagues summarize guidelines for the treatment of acute upper respiratory tract infections (URIs).1 Visits for acute URIs account for more than one-half of all antibiotic prescriptions for outpatients, and these infections lead to more unnecessary and inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions than any other infectious syndrome.2-4 All antib...