Low-value Care

Antibiotic Use and Outcomes in Children in the Emergency Department With Suspected Pneumonia

Abstract: Antibiotic therapy is often prescribed for suspected community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in children despite a lack of knowledge of causative pathogen. Our objective in this study was to investigate the association between antibiotic prescription and treatment failure in children with suspected CAP who are discharged from the hospital emergency department (ED).

Publication: Pediatrics

Date Published: April 1, 2020

Author(s): Matthew J. Lipshaw, Michelle Eckerle, Todd A. Florin, Eric J. Crotty, Jessi Lipscomb, Judd Jacobs, Mantosh S. Rattan, Richard M. Ruddy, Samir S. Shah and Lilliam Ambroggio

View This Resource

To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885

Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.

This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe.