BMJ 1999;318:1013 ( 10 April )

Letters

Prescribing antibiotics for sore throats

Doctor uses different method from authors

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR---Butler et al did not report a procedure that I use when faced with either a sore throat about which I am unsure or patients asking for antibiotics for their sore throat.1 I tell such patients that I think the cause of their sore throat is viral but that I will take a throat swab, with the promise that if their throat is still sore when the swab result is known I will prescribe an antibiotic on the basis of that result. Most seem happy---at least I don't see many of these patients again.

Andrew Sanderson, General practitioner. 
Adan House, Spennymoor, County Durham DL16 6QA

  1. Butler CC, Rollnick S, Pill R, Maggs-Rapport F, Stott N. Understanding the culture of prescribing: qualitative study of general practitioners' and patients' perceptions of antibiotics for sore throats. BMJ 1998; 317: 637-642[Abstract/Free Full Text]. (5 September.)

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Relevant Article

Understanding the culture of prescribing: qualitative study of general practitioners' and patients' perceptions of antibiotics for sore throats
Christopher C Butler, Stephen Rollnick, Roisin Pill, Frances Maggs-Rapport, and Nigel Stott
BMJ 1998 317: 637-642. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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