NCT00105248

Patient Centered Communication Training to Reduce Antibiotic Use in Acute Respiratory Tract Infections

Multidimensional Intervention Program to Reduce Antibiotic Prescriptions for Acute Respiratory Tract Infections in Adults: a Randomized Controlled Trial in Primary Care

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 900 (planned)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a short training program for general practitioners in patient-centered communication to reduce antibiotic prescription for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI).

Detailed description

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) constitute the most frequent reason for seeking ambulatory care and for the prescription of antibiotics, despite the mostly viral origin of ARTI. Antibiotic prescriptions for ARTI increase unnecessary drug expenditures and are the main reason for increasing drug resistance of common bacteria. Evidence from intervention studies shows that merely providing physicians with guidelines and educational material for the management of acute respiratory tract infections is not enough to reduce antibiotic prescriptions for these conditions. The main reasons for antibiotic prescription in ARTI are non-medical and related to the physician patient relationship, patients' expectations and beliefs about the benefit of antibiotics. Therefore patient-centered communication could be a promising approach to reduce the rate of antibiotic prescription in ambulatory care. Comparison: General practitioners (GPs) trained in patient-centered communication in addition to evidence-based guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of ARTI compared to GPs just introduced to evidence-based guidelines.

Conditions

• Respiratory Tract Infections

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	patient-centered communication training

Timeline

• Start date: 2004-01-01
• Completion: 2004-06-01
• First posted: 2005-03-11
• Last updated: 2016-05-11

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland