Trial of Post-Dated Delayed Antibiotic Prescriptions

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Status: Completed

Conditions: Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

Treatments: Other: A delayed prescription dated 2 days after clinical office visit; Drug: Usual Dated

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02732847

worrall1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Delayed prescriptions have been shown to lower antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections (which are mostly viral).

This trial will test the hypothesis that if the clinician post-dates the delayed prescription by 2 days, rather than dating it on the day the patient is seen, there will be a further drop in the rate of antibiotic use.

Full description

6 family doctors and 2 nurse practitioners in a small rural town will issue delayed antibiotic prescriptions to adult patients with new acute respiratory tract infections. The delayed prescriptions will be randomly dated for either the day of the office visit, or 2 days later. The 2 local pharmacies will note whether the prescription is cashed, and when.

It is hypothesised that post-dating the prescription will result in a reduced cashing rate.

Each arm of the study (Usual v Post-Dated) will contain 75 subjects. This sample will have the power to detect a 25% change in prescription use.

Enrollment: 149 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged 18 years or older
• Adults with an untreated upper respiratory tract infection
• Adults presenting for the first time to a family physician or a nurse practitioner

Exclusion criteria

• Less that 18 years
• Having a clear indication for antibiotic therapy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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149 participants in 2 patient groups

Post-Dated Prescription

Other group

Description:

a delayed prescription dated 2 days after clinical office visit

Treatment:

Other: A delayed prescription dated 2 days after clinical office visit

Usual

Other group

Description:

usual date

Treatment:

Drug: Usual Dated