PDAs Help Doctors Cut Excessive Antibiotics
Antibiotics can't treat the cold or the flu. Prescribed unwisely, they make bacteria harder to kill and make infections harder to treat. Still, about half the antibiotic prescriptions written in doctors' offices are useless, or worse. But tools that guide doctors' decisions can reduce excessive use of antibiotics, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study compared antibiotic prescriptions in eighteen rural communities. In some communities, a public education campaign urged patients not to get unnecessary antibiotics and doctors were given both paper-based and PDA tools to show whether antibiotics are recommended. Other communities received only the public education campaign or no intervention at all. The only significant decrease in antibiotic use occurred in the communities where doctors had the tools. Furthermore, the more doctors used these tools, the more inappropriate use of the antibiotics declined.
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