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Paediatric Severe Community‐Acquired Pneumonia in India
Author(s) -
Angalakuditi Mallik V,
Sunderland V Bruce
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of pharmacy practice and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2055-2335
pISSN - 1445-937X
DOI - 10.1002/j.2055-2335.2005.tb00334.x
Subject(s) - medicine , antipyretic , intervention (counseling) , antibiotics , pneumonia , cohort , dosing , community acquired pneumonia , population , analgesic , anesthesia , nursing , environmental health , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Aim To evaluate the prescribing patterns of antibiotics and antipyretics and their dosage for severe community‐acquired pneumonia (SCAP) in a paediatric population before and after an educational intervention in a rural Indian hospital. Method Physician prescribing patterns for SCAP were collected prospectively in a cohort of paediatric patients (pre‐intervention group). An educational intervention strategy was developed and implemented using data from baseline prescribing patterns and the Therapeutic Guidelines: Antibiotic recommendations for treatment of SCAP. An analysis to evaluate the impact of drug selection and dosing following the intervention was conducted in a second patient cohort (post‐intervention group). Results There were 146 patients in the pre‐intervention group and 155 in the post‐intervention group. Antibiotic choices were within the guidelines in both groups. All of the patients in the pre‐intervention group received dexamethasone with every dose of antibiotic. Post‐intervention, the use of dexamethasone was eliminated. For the pre‐intervention group, 97% of the antibiotic doses and 55% of the antipyretic doses were classified as inappropriate. Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotic and antipyretic doses was significantly reduced to 89% (p = 0.002) and 10% (p < 0.001) respectively, following the intervention. Conclusion There was some improvement in prescribing appropriate doses of antibiotics and antipyretics for SCAP following the educational intervention.