Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 28, 2026

Multiplex Therapeutic Drug Monitoring by Isotope-dilution HPLC-MS/MS of Antibiotics in Critical Illnesses
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Multiplex Therapeutic Drug Monitoring by Isotope-dilution HPLC-MS/MS of Antibiotics in Critical Illnesses

Published on: August 30, 2018

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The Invisible Excess: Too Long Antibiotic Duration in the Pediatric Emergency Care

Miguel Ángel Molina-Gutiérrez1, María Camacho-Gil2, Virginia Santana-Rojo2

  • 1Pediatric Emergency Department, La Paz University Hospital, 28046 Madrid, Spain.

Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland)
|February 27, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Antibiotic prescriptions in pediatric emergency departments are often too long, contributing to resistance. Uncomplicated community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) frequently receives inappropriate antibiotic durations.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Emergency Medicine
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Antimicrobial Stewardship

Background:

  • Antibiotics are frequently prescribed in Pediatric Emergency Departments (PEDs).
  • Overuse of antibiotics fuels antimicrobial resistance.
  • Shorter antibiotic courses are proving effective in pediatric trials.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze antibiotic treatment durations for common pediatric infections in a PED.
  • To compare prescribed durations with current evidence-based guidelines.

Main Methods:

  • Retrospective study of 1972 antibiotic prescriptions in a tertiary hospital's PED.
  • Outpatients aged 0-16 years discharged with antibiotics in 2022 were evaluated.
  • Prescriptions were classified as appropriate or inappropriate based on duration.

Main Results:

  • 28.3% of antibiotic prescriptions had inappropriate durations, primarily longer than recommended (98.3%).
  • Uncomplicated Community-Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) had the highest rate of inappropriate durations (76.2% of all inappropriate prescriptions).
  • Amoxicillin was the most frequent antibiotic in inappropriate prescriptions (75.4%).

Conclusions:

  • Prolonged antibiotic prescribing is common in Pediatric Emergency Departments.
  • Uncomplicated CAP is a key condition associated with inappropriate antibiotic durations in this setting.

Keywords:
antimicrobial stewardshipcommunity-acquired pneumoniaduration of therapypediatric emergency medicine

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