Temple Health Seeks to Improve Antibiotic Prescribing for Children

With funding from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), a team at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia is working to help improve antibiotic prescribing for children with acute respiratory tract infections.

Temple Health is a participant in PCORI’s Health Systems Implementation Initiative (HSII) and was selected for funding through a PCORI opportunity in which HSII participants were recruited to promote evidence-based practice, based on findings generated from PCORI-funded patient-centered clinical effectiveness research. HSII aims to reduce the estimated 17-year gap between evidence publication and clinical application. The initiative recognizes that practical experience and real-world insights acquired in diverse healthcare settings and health systems are crucial for sustainable, large-scale implementation of practice-changing findings in clinical care.

“Many children with symptoms of upper respiratory tract illness who are taken to see a pediatrician end up being prescribed antibiotics, even though they aren’t always needed,” explained Janet Lee, M.D.,  associate professor of pediatrics, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, in a story on the Temple Health website. Lee and Claire Raab, M.D., president and CEO of Temple Faculty Physicians, will co-lead the new PCORI initiative. 

“Working with physicians and families, we want to contextualize for the community the significance of inappropriate antibiotic use and potential for antibiotic resistance,” Lee said. Assuring appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use in pediatric populations can help prevent drug-resistant infections and avoid adverse side effects.

The $1 million in PCORI funding “will support Temple Health in promoting antibiotic stewardship for children with acute respiratory tract infections,” said PCORI Executive Director Nakela L. Cook, M.D., M.P.H., in a statement. “This project exemplifies PCORI's commitment to advancing the uptake of evidence into health care delivery settings to enable parents, caregivers and clinicians to make informed health care decisions and improve care delivery and health outcomes. We look forward to following the project’s progress and collaborating with Temple Health to share its results.”

In a previous PCORI-funded patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) study, researchers found that broad-spectrum antibiotics carry a greater risk of side effects relative to narrow-spectrum antibiotics, even though the two are equally effective in treating acute respiratory tract infections in children. The new initiative aims to implement and leverage these findings to improve antibiotic prescribing and stewardship.

“Along with implementing prior research to decrease broad-spectrum antibiotic use, we also are involving patients and families in focus groups and engaging with providers who see adult patients to help elevate the pediatric voice and guide messaging on antibiotic use,” Lee explained. Ultimately, these efforts could help delay the prescribing of antibiotics until their use is deemed absolutely necessary.