"Nurses are very busy, they're receiving all the things from the community, complicated or easy. You find them giving a high number of antibiotics, just in case. They'd be like, 'OK, what if I don't give it, and then the patient comes back tonight?' That dynamic has led to extremely high prescription rates, according to new research."
"In sub-Saharan Africa, the rise in antimicrobial resistance is enormous. We are at the edge of losing potential antibiotics. Their computer tablet-based tool, called ePOCT+, guides clinicians, step-by-step, through diagnosing a problem and suggesting a treatment. After those same 32 clinics implemented ePOCT+, antibiotic prescription rates plummeted from 71% to 25%."
Rural Rwandan clinics face overwhelming patient loads, with nurses seeing up to 60 patients daily. This workload pressure leads to excessive antibiotic prescribing as a precautionary measure, even for viral infections where antibiotics are ineffective. Research across 32 clinics found 71% of pediatric visits resulted in antibiotic prescriptions, far exceeding medical necessity. High prescription rates drive antimicrobial resistance, a critical threat in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers developed ePOCT+, a tablet-based diagnostic tool that guides clinicians through systematic diagnosis and treatment recommendations. After implementation, antibiotic prescription rates dropped to 25% while maintaining patient health outcomes, demonstrating the tool's effectiveness in reducing unnecessary prescriptions.
Read at www.npr.org
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