Patients' responses to delayed antibiotic prescription for acute upper respiratory tract infections.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) account for approximately 50% of antibiotic prescriptions in the United Kingdom. General practitioners (GPs) frequently issue such prescriptions simply because they believe that the patient expects it. Deferred prescribing (issuing a prescription, but with instructions to wait for no spontaneous improvement before deciding whether to use it) might address patients' expectations, while minimising actual antibiotic consumption. Although the technique is quite widely practiced, patients' attitudes and responses to it are unclear.

Aims

To establish the proportion of recipients who claim to consume their delayed antibiotic prescriptions. To elicit factors associated with patients' decisions to consume their antibiotics, and pa

SUBMITTER: Edwards M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1314726 | biostudies-literature | 2003 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature