Pediatric Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns From Emergency Department Visits

Division

South Atlantic

Hospital

Grand Strand Medical Center

Document Type

Manuscript

Publication Date

4-1-2026

Keywords

emergency department, pediatric antibiotics, pediatric prescriptions, prescription trends

Disciplines

Chemicals and Drugs | Emergency Medicine | Therapeutics

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Antibiotics are frequently prescribed for pediatric emergency department (ED) patients having respiratory or genitourinary infections. Professional guidelines and antibiograms exist to help guide appropriate antibiotics for these infections, but it is unknown how well ED providers adhere to these recommendations.

METHODS: From January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2022 using a national electronic medical record database, we retrospectively reviewed de-identified pediatric ED patients who were discharged home with an antibiotic. Antibiotics and infections were grouped for analysis, and results were compared yearly.

RESULTS: We identified 85,026 pediatric ED patients with infectious diseases discharged home with 24,363 antibiotic prescriptions. Over the 6-year study period, penicillin-based antibiotics were prescribed more than macrolides or cephalosporins for respiratory tract infections, rising from 76.5% in 2017 to 81.3% in 2022 (p < 0.001). For genitourinary tract infections, cephalosporins were prescribed more than 5 other types of antibiotics, rising from 62.7% in 2017 to 73.9% in 2022 (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Over this 6-year period, ED providers in our region were fairly adherent to and improved for guideline recommended respiratory tract infections and antibiogram guided treatment for genitourinary tract infection in pediatric patients.

Publisher or Conference

The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics

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