ArticleBMJ open2021
Understanding doctors' emergency department antibiotic prescribing decisions in children with respiratory symptoms in the UK: a qualitative study.
Article in BMJ open, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Factors influencing physicians' antimicrobial prescribing decisions: A systematic review of qualitative studies.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Clinical utility of a host-protein test for suspected infection in the pediatric emergency department: a pragmatic pre-/post-implementation study.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2026Article
- Adherence to NICE Guidelines and Centor Criteria in Acute Sore Throat Management: An Audit Cycle.Cureus · 2025Article
- Real-World Utility of the Host-Response MeMed BV Test in a Pediatric Emergency Department: A Non-Randomized Study with Optimized Antimicrobial and Diagnostic Stewardship.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Why Do Physicians Prescribe Antibiotics? A Systematic Review of the Psycho-Socio-Organisational Factors Related to Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing of Antimicrobials in Europe.Infectious disease reports · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveExploration of the factors that influence hospital doctors' antibiotic prescribing decisions when treating children with respiratory symptoms in UK emergency departments.
methodsA qualitative study using semistructured interviews based on a critical incident technique with 21 physicians of different grades and specialties that treat children in the UK. Interviews were audio-recorded then transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
resultsFour themes were identified. These themes illustrate factors which influence clinician prescribing. The three principal themes were authorities, pressures and risk. The fourth transcending theme that ran through all themes was clinician awareness and complicity ('knowing but still doing').
conclusionsHospital doctors prescribe antibiotics even when they know they should not. This appears to be due to the influence of those in charge or external pressures experienced while weighing up the immediate and longer term risks but clinicians do this with full insight into their actions. These findings have implications for invested parties seeking to develop future antimicrobial stewardship programmes. It is recommended that stewardship interventions acknowledge and target these themes which may in turn facilitate behaviour change and antimicrobial prescribing practice in emergency departments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.