Rapid Responses to:

EDITORIALS:
Remco P Rietveld, Patrick J E Bindels, and Gerben ter Riet
Antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections and conjunctivitis in primary care
BMJ 2006; 333: 311-312 [Full text]
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Rapid Responses published:

[Read Rapid Response] Nurseries require antibiotic treatment of conjunctivitis
Justine.E Foster   (11 August 2006)
[Read Rapid Response] Implementing this data in daily practice
Mahidhar Godavarti   (31 August 2006)

Nurseries require antibiotic treatment of conjunctivitis 11 August 2006
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Justine.E Foster,
GP Principal
Longlevens Surgery, 19b, Church Road, Longlevens, Glos, GL2 0AJ

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Re: Nurseries require antibiotic treatment of conjunctivitis

I wholeheartedly agree with the author that antibiotics are frequently unnecessary for conjunctivitis in children, which is often self -limiting. In general practice however, we are frequently driven by the demands of nurseries that antibiotics be presribed before the child can be readmitted. To refuse or delay treatment often results in a parent having to stay home from work to care for the child. This begs the question: how important is it to treat the index case to prevent spread to other children?

Justine Foster

Competing interests: None declared
Implementing this data in daily practice 31 August 2006
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Mahidhar Godavarti,
Gp Registrar
TS22 5HS

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Re: Implementing this data in daily practice

I personally believe in delayed prescribing. The point which I want to raise is how can we implement this in daily practice? Because of age old tradition of antibiotic prescribing, everybody who has a cough a cold will be getting antibiotics. If we start implementing delayed prescribing 9 out of 10 patients will not be satisfied. In this age of patient centered care and satisfying them, how are we able to bring about the change and satisfy them? So what I want to point is how can we make this information more available to the public and change their way of thinking about antibiotics? I think this is a point which needs a debate.

Competing interests: None declared