February 28, 2023
Life Sciences | Tea Leaves
  • The misuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic points to a need for provider systems to shore up their antimicrobial stewardship programs, according to experts at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. A new research letter in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Health Forum examined the use—or, rather, misuse—of antibiotics to treat COVID-19 for people enrolled in commercial health insurance plans. Researchers with the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh found that antibiotics were most prescribed for COVID-19 patients in emergency departments and in practice-based telemedicine consultations, but sometimes the antibiotics were prescribed for COVID-19 patients despite no evidence that such treatments would improve outcomes. (Article here)