Introduction: The administration of antibiotics for the treatment of pediatric illnesses is common, reaching one third of pediatric patients. This paper aims to identify the antibiotic prescription practices of pediatricians and to explore the associations between prescribing practices and a series of socio-demographic and professional determinants in Greece.
Material and method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in public hospitals providing secondary and tertiary pediatric care from January to July 2012. A self-administered questionnaire was developed and tested in a pilot study, focusing on respondents' characteristics, their practices and attitudes related to prescribing antibiotics in common childhood diseases, diagnostic uncertainty, and parental demand. Multivariate regression analysis was performed.
Results: In total, 275 physicians responded to the questionnaire (61% response rate). The majority of the physicians prescribed antibiotics empirically in possible group A streptococcus infections (56.9%) and implemented the "watchful waiting" approach in acute otitis media (65.5%); further, they did not feel diagnostic uncertainty (74%) and were not affected by parental demand (81%). Finally, when prescribing, they did not take into consideration the drug cost (64.4%). Gender, physicians' experience, and the type of hospital (specialized or general hospital) were identified as prognostic factors of prescribing practices.
Conclusion: Our findings could provide decision-makers with insights into how to manage physicians' prescription practices in order to reduce the high rates of antibiotic consumption that Greece is facing nowadays.