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Geographic variability of antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory tract infections within a direct-to-consumer telemedicine practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 June 2021

Rana F. Hamdy*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health, Washington, DC
Daniel Park
Affiliation:
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health, Washington, DC
Kristin Dean
Affiliation:
Doctor On Demand, San Francisco, California
James Thompson
Affiliation:
Doctor On Demand, San Francisco, California
Anusha Kambala
Affiliation:
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC
Lily D. Yan
Affiliation:
Division of General Internal Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York
Ian Tong
Affiliation:
Doctor On Demand, San Francisco, California Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California
Cindy M. Liu
Affiliation:
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Washington, DC Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health, Washington, DC
*
Author for correspondence: Rana F. Hamdy, E-mail: rhamdy@childrensnational.org

Abstract

In this retrospective cohort study of patients presenting to a national direct-to-consumer medical practice, we found that provider geographic location is a stronger driver of antibiotic prescribing than patient location. Physicians in the Northeast and South are significantly more likely than physicians in the West to prescribe antibiotics for upper respiratory infection and bronchitis.

Type
Concise Communication
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America

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Footnotes

PREVIOUS PRESENTATION: This work was presented as an oral presentation at the Pediatric Antimicrobial Stewardship Conference on May 31, 2019, in St Louis, Missouri.

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