Giving patients more information reduces antibiotic use

The amount of antibiotics used in general practice can be reduced if general practitioners share their uncertainty over the necessity for antibiotics with patients who present with acute bronchitis. Macfarlane and colleagues (p 91) found they could reduce the number of patients who took antibiotics by nearly a quarter among patients who the general practitioner thought did not definitely need antibiotics. This strategy could save about 750 000 courses of antibiotic nationally each year.

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Relevant Article

Reducing antibiotic use for acute bronchitis in primary care: blinded, randomised controlled trial of patient information leaflet • Commentary: More self reliance in patients and fewer antibiotics: still room for improvement

John Macfarlane, William Holmes, Philip Gard, David Thornhill, Rosamund Macfarlane, Richard Hubbard, and Chris van Weel
BMJ 2002 324: 91. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]