Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Urgent Care Patients Prescribed Antibiotics At Three Times Rate Of Those Going To Traditional Doctors' Office
Nearly half of patients who go to urgent care clinics seeking treatment for a flu, cold or other conditions that do not require antibiotics received a prescription for one anyway. That is three times as often as antibiotics are prescribed聽to patients with the same illnesses in traditional doctors鈥 offices, according to a study published Monday. Patients who get聽unnecessary antibiotics聽are at risk for severe side effects, even with just one dose of the medicine, doctors say. Inappropriate use of these lifesaving drugs also puts everyone else at risk because overuse accelerates the emergence of resistant bacteria, or 鈥渟uperbugs,鈥 that cannot be stopped with drugs. (Sun, 7/16)
With antibiotic resistance on the rise, the days when doctors and clinics could rely on one treatment to cure all gonorrhea cases may be waning. In fact, clinicians may find that some of their patients respond best to drugs of the past. But how will they know which patients? (Branswell, 7/17)
