Inappropriate prescription of intravenous antibiotics at a tertiary children's hospital in China.

BACKGROUND

Antibiotics are one of the most frequently prescribed medication classes worldwide. Inappropriate prescription of antibiotics has increased the risk of drug-resistant infections and associated mortality. The aim of this study was to examine the patterns of intravenous antibiotics prescribing in emergency and outpatient departments of a tertiary children's hospital in China.

METHODS

Data on intravenous prescriptions dispensed by the emergency and outpatient department from January 1, 2015 to May 31, 2016 were extracted from the information system of the Children's Hospital of Fudan University. Prevalence of intravenous antibiotics use and the suitability of intravenous antibiotic prescription were evaluated on the basis of a completed microbiological examination, antibiotics susceptibility testing, and dose prescribed for patients diagnosed with pneumonia, acute bronchitis, fever, and acute upper respiratory infection (AURI) patients. The prescription rate was expressed as the number of intravenous antibiotic prescriptions per total number of prescriptions.

RESULTS

Overall, 94.2% of pediatric patients and 78.5% of issued intravenous prescriptions were for antibiotics. beta-lactam antibacterial (90.5%) and macrolides (18.5%) were the most commonly used categories of antibiotics, while cefuroxime (28.8%) was the most used antibiotic. Besides, pneumonia (31.3%), acute bronchitis (14.1%), fever (6.5%), and AURI (5.5%) were the most commonly recorded infections. However, in these four diseases, the rate of conducting microbiological examination was 0.3%, 0.2%, 2.1%, and 2.8%, respectively. Approximately, 52.1%, 40.0%, 40.4%, and 30.5% of intravenous antibiotic prescriptions were inappropriately used in pneumonia, acute bronchitis, fever, and AURI, respectively. Doses higher and lower than the recommended were often for each of these four diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

The frequency of intravenous antibiotic prescription was high in pediatric emergency and outpatient departments. Inappropriate use of intravenous antibiotics commonly occurred in pneumonia, acute bronchitis, fever, and AURI. Appropriate interventions and prevention strategies need to be developed to curtail inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics.