ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2025
Prevalence of Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Respiratory Tract Infection in Telehealth Versus Face-to-Face Consultations: Cross-Sectional Analysis of General Practice Registrars' Clinical Practice.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Between Patient Pressure and Professional Responsibility: Antibiotic Prescribing Practices in Primary Care.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Feasibility, Diagnostic Accuracy, and Satisfaction of an Acute Pediatric Video Interconsultation Model in Rural Primary Care in Catalonia: Prospective Observational Study.JMIR pediatrics and parenting · 2026Article
- The impact of virtual care on drug prescribing practices: A scoping review.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Antibiotic Use in Pediatrics: Perceptions and Practices of Romanian Physicians.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Determinants of Implementation of Antimicrobial Stewardship Interventions for Managing Community Adult Acute Respiratory Infections: Qualitative Analysis from the OPTIMAS-GP Study Co-Design Phase.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntimicrobial resistance is a global threat. Australia has high antibiotic prescribing rates with the majority of antibiotics prescribed by general practitioners (GPs) for self-limiting acute respiratory tract infection (ARTIs). Australian GP trainees' (registrars') prescribing for ARTIs may have been affected by the introduction of remunerated telehealth consultations in 2020. Understanding of the impact of telehealth on antibiotic stewardship may inform registrar educational programs.
objectiveThis study aimed to compare the prevalence of antibiotic prescribing by GP registrars in telehealth versus face-to-face (F2F) consultations for common cold (upper respiratory tract infection [URTI]), bronchitis, sore throat, acute otitis media, and sinusitis.
methodsA cross-sectional analysis of data from the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study, a multicenter inception cohort study of registrars' in-consultation clinical and educational experiences. Analysis used univariable and multivariable logistic regression using 2020-2023 ReCEnT data. The outcome variable was "antibiotic prescribed" for new presentations of URTI, acute sore throat, acute bronchitis, acute sinusitis, and acute otitis media. The study factor was consultation type (telehealth or F2F).
resultsA total of 2392 registrars participated (response rate=93.4%). The proportions of diagnoses that were managed via telehealth were 25% (5283/21384) overall, 19% (641/3327) for acute sore throat, 29% (3733/12773) for URTI, 21% (364/1772), for acute bronchitis, 4.1% (72/1758) for acute otitis media, and 27% (473/1754) for acute sinusitis. Antibiotics were prescribed for 51% (1685/3327) of sore throat diagnoses, 6.9% (880/12773) of URTI diagnoses, 64% (1140/1772) of bronchitis diagnoses, 61% (1067/1754) of sinusitis diagnoses, and 73% (1278/1758) of otitis media diagnoses. On multivariable analysis, antibiotics were less often prescribed in telehealth than F2F consultations for sore throat (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.55-0.86; P=.001), URTI (adjusted OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.51-0.81; P<.001), and otitis media (adjusted OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.26-0.84; P=.01). There were no significant differences for acute bronchitis (adjusted OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.79-1.45; P=.66) or acute sinusitis (adjusted OR 1, 95% CI 0.76-1.32; P=.99).
conclusionsGP registrars are less likely to prescribe antibiotics for sore throat, URTI, and otitis media when seeing patients by telehealth versus F2F. Understanding the reason for this difference is essential to help guide educational efforts aimed at decreasing antibiotic prescribing by GPs for conditions such as ARTIs where they are of little to no benefit. There was no evidence in this study that telehealth consultations were associated with greater registrar antibiotic prescribing for ARTIs. Therefore, there is no deleterious effect on antibiotic stewardship.
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