From NY Times:
June 18, 1997
Overuse of Antibiotics
By SUSAN GILBERT
"Do as I say, not as I do," sums up parents' and pediatricians' attitude toward antibiotics, according to a recent Boston University School of Medicine survey. They know that overusing antibiotics can be dangerous, but they overuse them anyway when children are sick, the survey found.
The researchers interviewed 400 parents in the Boston area about their knowledge of antibiotics. Eighty-five percent said that there were problems with overuse, with 55 mentioning that it can lead to antibiotic-resistant infections and other immunity problems. Nine percent believed that their doctors had prescribed an antibiotic unnecessarily.
But 18 percent of the parents admitted that they had used antibiotics inappropriately by giving them to their children before consulting a physician. And 14 percent believed that their children had at some point required an antibiotic when the doctor did not prescribe one. A majority of parents erroneously said that they were needed for coughs and fevers.
Of the 60 pediatricians who responded, 71 percent said that at least four times in the last month a parent had asked for an antibiotic when it was unnecessary. And 35 percent said that they occasionally gave in to a parent's request.
Why the split between what parents and pediatricians believe and what they do?
"Physicians feel an enormous amount of pressure from parents to dispense antibiotics," said Dr. Howard Bauchner, an author of the study, which appears in the June issue of the electronic version of the journal Pediatrics.
As for the parents, he said: "I'd speculate from a personal and a professional standpoint that when your child is ill, you want to do anything to get your child better faster. This isn't the only time when we see a difference between what people know and what they do."
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