Study: Clinics in AHRQ-funded program cut antibiotic use in half

Ambulatory care clinics participating in a safety program funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) cut antibiotic prescribing in half, according to a study. Published earlier this week, the study analyzed the results of the AHRQ Safety Program, which assisted 389 ambulatory clinics in establishing or improving antibiotic stewardship programs ─ coordinated internal programs that promote the appropriate use of antibiotics.  Antibiotic prescribing at the clinics fell by nearly 48%, and antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infection diagnoses fell by 37%. Half of all prescriptions are medically inappropriate, which can increase the risk of antibiotic resistance developing in microbes, making the antibiotics useless. (JAMA Open Network study, 7/6/22)