Antibiotic usage in Kupat Holim (Sick Fund) clinics. A pilot survey and evaluation

A survey of antibiotic prescribing patterns of six physicians in two Sick Fund clinics was carried out during a one-month period. Over 1,200 antibiotic prescriptions and their therapeutic indications were reviewed. Ampicillin was the most commonly prescribed drug. Most of the prescriptions were for treatment of infections of the upper respiratory tract. Over one half of all antibiotic prescriptions were for presumably viral upper respiratory infections (URI), and half of all patients diagnosed as having viral URI received an antibiotic prescription. A method for measuring the quality of antibiotic usage by physicians in infections of the upper respiratory tract was developed and tested. The method is readily applicable to Sick Fund clinics and, in a trial run, proved capable of demonstrating large differences among physicians in their antibiotic prescribing habits for viral URI, tonsillitis, and otitis media.