Improvement of Antibiotic Prescription in Outpatient Care: a Cluster-randomised Intervention Study Using a Sentinel Surveillance Network of Physicians
Trial Snapshot
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Status
- Completed
- Sponsor
- University of Bern
- Enrollment
- 140
- Locations
- 2
- Primary Endpoint
- Percentage of prescriptions of penicillin for respiratory tract infections
Study Overview
Brief Summary
Antimicrobial resistance has become a world-wide problem and antibiotic consumption is a major driving force for the development of resistance. Thus optimization of antibiotic prescription and reduction of unnecessary antimicrobial treatment are essential in the prevention and reduction of antimicrobial resistance rates.
The goal of this study is the improvement of antibiotic prescription in outpatient care. The study will take place within a Swiss-wide sentinel surveillance network of physicians. The participating physicians will be randomised in a control and intervention group. The intervention group will receive therapeutic guidelines for the treatment of upper and lower respiratory tract infections and lower urinary tract infection as well as regular feed-backs on the prescription pattern of the sentinel physicians during the past months. Sentinel physicians will collect information about each antibiotic prescription, its indication and characteristics of the patient.
Our hypothesis is that the prescription pattern in the intervention group will be optimised and unnecessary antibiotic therapy will be reduced compared to the control group.
Detailed Description
Background
Antimicrobial resistance has become a world-wide problem and antibiotic consumption is a major driving force for the development of resistance. Thus optimization of antibiotic prescription and reduction of unnecessary antimicrobial treatment are essential in the prevention and reduction of antimicrobial resistance rates.
The goal of this study is the qualitative and quantitative improvement of antibiotic prescription in outpatient care. The study will take place within a Swiss-wide sentinel surveillance network consisting of general practitioners, pediatricians and physicians specialized in internal medicine. The participating physicians will be randomised in a control and intervention group. The intervention group will receive therapeutic guidelines for the treatment of upper and lower respiratory tract infections and lower urinary tract infections. Furthermore, regular feed-backs on the prescription pattern of the sentinel physicians in the last months will be provided.
Information about each antibiotic prescription, its indication and the characteristics of the patients will be collected by the sentinel physicians. The standardized reporting of antibiotic prescription by sentinel physicians has been carried out in Switzerland since 2006.
Our hypothesis is that the intervention will affect the antibiotic prescription pattern and that the investigators will observe an optimization of antibiotic prescription and a decrease in the number of antibiotic prescriptions.
Study Design
- Study Type
- Interventional
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Intervention Model
- Parallel
- Masking
- None
Eligibility Criteria
- Sex
- All
- Accepts Healthy Volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria
- •Patients with respiratory tract infections or urinary tract infections
- •Exclusion Criteria
- •Patients with chronic disease requiring regular antibiotic treatment
Exclusion Criteria
- Not provided
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Percentage of prescriptions of penicillin for respiratory tract infections
Time Frame: Two years
Percentage of prescriptions of TMP/SMX for lower urinary tract infections in adults
Time Frame: Two years
Secondary Outcomes
- Percentage of prescriptions of quinolone for COPD exacerbations in adults(Two years)
- Percentage of antibiotic prescriptions for the indications "sinusitis" and "other upper respiratory tract infections"(Two years)