ArticleBMC family practice2019
Over prescribing of antibiotics for acute respiratory tract infections; a qualitative study to explore Irish general practitioners' perspectives.
Article in BMC family practice, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Factors influencing physicians' antimicrobial prescribing decisions: A systematic review of qualitative studies.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Physicians', pharmacists', and nurses' education of patients about antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in primary care settings: a qualitative systematic literature review.Frontiers in antibiotics · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Clinicians' perspectives on a primary healthcare intervention to reduce antibiotic prescription for acute lower respiratory tract infections in Barcelona (Spain): a qualitative study.Primary health care research & development · 2025Trial
- Antimicrobial stewardship in Ireland (2010-2021): a scoping review.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Barriers and enablers to using evidence-based antibiotic prescription guidelines in primary care: a qualitative systematic review and synthesis using the theoretical domains framework.Implementation science communications · 2026Review
- Antibiotic prescribing for outpatients with respiratory tract infections in public and private clinics of a resource-constrained setting, northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Barriers and Enablers to Optimal Antimicrobial Use in Respiratory Tract Infections.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Pattern and appropriateness of antimicrobial prescription for acute respiratory tract infection in primary healthcare settings in Ethiopia.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- Experiences of antibiotic use and healthcare access among migrants to the UK: a qualitative study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Evidence for antimicrobial stewardship and reduced antimicrobial resistance in the Mid-West of Ireland, 2012 to 2023: findings from a One Health study.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025Article
- Changing the antibiotic prescribing of Australian general practice registrars' for acute respiratory tract infections: a non-randomized controlled trial.Family practice · 2025Article
- Oral Antibacterial Drug Prescribing in Primary Care Out-of-Hours Services: A Scoping Review.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Article
- Knowledge, perception, and attitudes of medical students towards antimicrobial resistance and stewardship: an observational cross-sectional study from Palestine.BMC medical education · 2024Observational
- Point prevalence audit surveys of respiratory tract infection consultations and antibiotic prescribing in primary care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.The Journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy · 2023Article
- Factors Influencing Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics in Infants under 3 Years of Age in Primary Care: A Qualitative Study of the Paediatricians' Perceptions.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Outpatient antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections in Vietnamese primary care settings by the WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch and Reserve) classification: An analysis using routinely collected electronic prescription data.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- Determinants of the Empiric Use of Antibiotics by General Practitioners in South Africa: Observational, Analytic, Cross-Sectional Study.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Primary care physician responses to requests by older adults for unnecessary drugs: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAnti-microbial resistance (AMR) is a global threat to public health and antibiotics are often unnecessarily prescribed for acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) in general practice. We aimed to investigate why general practitioners (GPs) continue to prescribe antibiotics for ARTIs despite increasing knowledge of their poor efficacy and worsening antimicrobial resistance.
methodsWe used an explorative qualitative study design. Thirteen GPs were recruited through purposive sampling to represent urban and rural settings and years of experience. They were based in general practices within the Mid-West of Ireland. GPs took part in semi-structured interviews that were digitally audio recorded and transcribed.
resultsThree main themes and three subthemes were identified. Themes include (1) non-comprehensive guidelines; how guideline adherence can be difficult, (2) GPs under pressure; pressures to prescribe from patients and perceived patient expectations and (3) Unnecessary prescribing; how to address it and the potential of public interventions to reduce it.
conclusionsGPs acknowledge their failure to implement guidelines because they feel they are less usable in clinical situations. GPs felt pressurised to prescribe, especially for fee-paying patients and in out of hours settings (OOH), suggesting the need for interventions that target the public's perceptions of antibiotics. GPs behaviours surrounding prescribing antibiotics need to change in order to reduce AMR and change patients' expectations.
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Registered trials
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