• Elif Oğuz, Berna Terzioğlu Bebitoğlu, Çağatay Nuhoğlu, Yasemin Çağ, Ajla Hodzic, Fatime Temel, Pelin Çırtlık, and Ayşe Ela Kurtdan Dalkılıç.
• Department of Medical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Int. J. Clin. Pract. 2021 Mar 1; 75 (3): e13782.

BackgroundAntibiotics are widely used and inaccurate or inappropriate prescription of antibiotics causes a significant increase in the prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections among children. This research aimed to study antibiotic prescriptions in hospitalised paediatric patients and to determine the prevalence of inappropriate antimicrobial use and the main types of prescribing errors.MethodsAfter obtaining the Ethics Committee approval, screening was conducted among 535 patients admitted to the Department of Pediatrics at Haydarpasa Numune Training and Research Hospital in the period from 01 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 who had been treated with an antibiotic. Patients' demographics, diagnosis and antibiotic therapy details were collected using a standardised case report form and assessed by a clinical pharmacologist and an infectious disease specialist regarding the convenience and accurateness of prescription of antibiotics.ResultsOut of 535 antibiotic prescriptions, single antibiotics were used inappropriately in 216 (56.10%) of the patients and there were 39 (26%) unnecessary antibiotic combinations. Most of the errors were made in the dose frequency (55.69%), followed by indication (25.88%), administration route (16.08%) and dosage (2.67%).ConclusionsThe results of our study show that a high level of antibiotics in the paediatric clinic was misprescribed. Inappropriate usage increases the chances of microbial resistance and the cost of treatment. Precautions should be taken in this regard.© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

11 keywords...

hide…