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Pediatricians are extremely important in the fight against antibiotic overuse.
Young children in particular have the highest rate of antibiotic prescriptions
each year in the United States.
On average, young children receive at least one antibiotic prescription each year.
Ear infections are the single leading diagnosed, the single leading reason why
antibiotics are prescribed for children. But diagnosing an ear infection is
sometimes not so clear-cut. Being really certain about the diagnosis before prescribing
an antibiotic is a really critical part of this fight against antibiotic overuse.
These targets are really helpful for all clinicians.
First of all, one of the main points that these targets highlight
is that over diagnosis is a major problem that underlies antibiotic overuse.
For a long time we believed that airing on the safe side for our patients might
be to prescribe an antibiotic just in case, even when we're completely certain
about the diagnosis of say, an ear infection. Increasingly, we were realizing that
being on the safe side often means and not prescribing an antibiotic.