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A study just published in the journal Pediatrics reveals that the rate of antibiotic prescribing for children with symptoms of acute respiratory infections is higher in connection with direct-to-consumer telemedicine than for those children whose parents take them to an urgent care center or primary care provider. Unfortunately, only 59% of those prescriptions were in accord with existing guidelines, the authors reported; the rate of “compliant” prescriptions in urgent care and primary care visits topped 65%. The study was based on 4,604 telemedicine encounters, 38,408 visits to urgent care centers, and 485,201 trips to the primary care provider.
Telemedicine ‘Visits’ Are More Likely to Result in Guideline-Noncompliant Antibiotic Prescriptions