A Clinical Audit and Impact of Interventions on Antibiotic Prescribing Practices at a Public Dental Primary Care Clinic
10.21315/aos2022.1701.OA01
- Author:
Sarah Wan-Lin Lim
1
;
Diana Brennai Awan
2
;
Thaddius Herman Maling
3
Author Information
1. Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. Grace Chieng Dental Clinic, CH206, Jalan Batu Kawa, Batu Kawa, 93250 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
3. Samarahan Divisional Dental Office, Lot 7993, Block 59, Level 1, Kota Samarahan New Township, 94300 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
Antibiotic prescribing;
Antibiotics;
Clinical audit;
Dental;
Dentistry
- MeSH:
Anti-Bacterial Agents--administration & dosage;
Dental Clinics;
Clinical Audit
- From:Archives of Orofacial Sciences
2022;17(1):31-45
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
ABSTRACT:Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in dentistry has been widely reported but local studies are scarce.
We aimed to evaluate antibiotic prescribing practices among dental officers in a public dental primary
care clinic against current guidelines: specifically assessing the number, appropriateness, accuracy
of prescriptions, type of antibiotics prescribed and repeated prescribing of the same type of antibiotics
within a specific duration. A retrospective audit consisting of two cycles (1st cycle: July to September
2018, 2nd cycle: July to September 2019) was carried out by manually collecting relevant data of
patients (aged 18 and above) who were prescribed antibiotics from carbon copies of prescription
books. Between each cycle, various interventions such as education through a continuous professional
development (CPD) session, presentation of preliminary findings and making guidelines more accessible
to dental officers were implemented. When the 1st and 2nd cycles were compared, the number of
antibiotic prescriptions issued reduced from 194 to 136 (–30.0%) whereas the percentage of appropriate
prescriptions increased slightly by 4.1%. Inaccurate prescriptions in terms of dosage and duration
decreased (–0.5% and –13.7%, respectively) whilst drug form and frequency of intake increased (+15.7%
and +0.7%, respectively). Repeated prescribing of the same antibiotics by the same officer within a
period of ≤6 weeks no longer occurred. Amoxicillin and metronidazole were most commonly prescribed
in both cycles. Overall, the antibiotic prescribing practices did not closely adhere to current guidelines.
However, clinical audit in conjunction with targeted interventions resulted in improvement in the
antibiotic prescribing patterns. Thus, further intervention and re-audit is necessary.
- Full text:2.2022my0004.pdf
