Open AccessClinical Screening Tools to Diagnose Group A Streptococcal Pharyngotonsillitis in Primary Care Clinics to Improve Prescribing Habits
Author(s) -
AbdulRahman Muthanna,
Hani Salim,
Rukman Awang Hamat,
Nurainul Hana Shamsuddin,
Siti Zulaikha Zakariah
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
the malaysian journal of medical sciences/the malaysian journal of medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.394
H-Index - 25
eISSN - 2180-4303
pISSN - 1394-195X
DOI - 10.21315/mjms2018.25.6.2
Subject(s) - medicine , primary care , antibiotics , intensive care medicine , pharyngitis , group a , primary health care , tonsillitis , health care , pediatrics , family medicine , population , environmental health , microbiology and biotechnology , economics , biology , economic growth
This review highlights the clinical scoring tools used for the management of acute pharyngotonsillitis in primary care clinics. It will include the prevalence of group A pharyngotonsillitis among children and adults worldwide and the selective tests employed for diagnosing group A streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis. Pharyngotonsillitis is one of the common reasons for visits to primary care clinics worldwide, and physicians tend to prescribe antibiotics according to the clinical symptoms, which leads to overprescribing antibiotics. This in turn may lead to serious health impacts and severe reactions and may promote antibiotic resistance. These significantly add on to the health care costs. The available information from health organisations and previous studies has indicated the need to manage the diagnosis of pharyngotonsillitis to improve prescribing habits in primary care clinics.