Survey Antibiotics in the Outpatient Treatment of Upper Respiratory Tract Infections

Aim: (1) Survey on the current situation of antibiotic prescription (2) Assess the safety–reasonability of antibiotic prescription. Subject and Method: A retrospective descriptive study on 300 outpatient prescriptions at Vo Truong Toan University Hospital from August 2021 to August 2022 with the diagnosis of upper respiratory tract infection. Several factors associated with unknown antibiotics were analyzed by the logistic regression model. Result: Cephalosporin antibiotics account for the highest proportion (42.8%), followed by fluoroquinolones (32.8%). Recorded prescriptions with interactions were 113 prescriptions (37.7%). In the total number of prescriptions (n=113), antibiotic interactions occurred according to: the level of drug interactions to Medscape includes close monitoring (75.8%). Next is the mild level (19.4%) and the severe level is (4.8%). The level of drug interactions according to Drugs.com includes the low level (61.8%). Next is the medium level (37.5%) and the dangerous level (0.7%). The most frequent interaction pairs are ciprofloxacin plus methylprednisolone (64/300 prescriptions), levofloxacin plus methylprednisolone (8/300 prescriptions) and ciprofloxacin plus tramadol (9/300 prescriptions). Conclusion: The most commonly used antibiotic is cephalosporin, which has many pairs of drug interactions that require close monitoring from treating physicians and clinical pharmacists.