Antibiotic Usage

Inappropriate use of antibiotics by practitioners continues to be problematic. Despite the known consequences and vast amounts of research that discourages this practice; many providers ignore the empirical based evidence that supports targeting bacterial conditions directly rather than grabbing for the "big guns". These actions have helped to create the resistant strains of bacteria that have had a significant impact on healthcare costs, morbidity and mortality.

Practitioners are faced with tough decisions when it comes to treating there patients. Often parents and patients are persistent in the type of treatment they or their family members receive. They can be quite demanding that their Ð''sniffle' is an infection and won't be happy until a prescription for an antibiotic is provided. With issues such as short appointment times, double booking, keeping patients happy in order to build a successful practice and an increasingly litigious society, it is easy to see how this practice continues to be embraced by many healthcare providers. This problem would seem to be directed more at the physician side of healthcare, since traditionally non-physician providers such as APN's typically concentrate on evidence based practices and more thorough education of their patients and their families.

Interestingly enough, Ashish (2005) finds that non-physician practitioners are more likely to prescribe antibiotics in respiratory cases that rarely require them than physicians are. These results tend to suggest that there is a direct correlation between types of practitioners and the inappropriate use of antibiotics. Obviously, this is a single study with a limited breadth of measurement, but it does suggest that conditions exist to promote over treatment by non-physician providers.

Reference

Ashish, K. (2005)