Objective To explore the
intravenous antimicrobials use in
children below five years of age presenting to
rural clinics. Methods One village in one township was multistage sampled respectively from Yongning County and Wuming County in Nanning City and a retrospective study was conducted in all clinics in these two villages. Data concerning intravenous antimicrobials use in children below five years of age through one year was collected by prescriptions reviewing and analyzed using standard epidemiologic data analysis software. Results Total 6 219 children were treated intravenously with antimicrobials by 10
clinicians at 6 rural clinics within one year, accounting for 90% of children receiving any antimicrobials. 82.2% of 6 219 children presented with elevated body temperature. And 72.9% of the patients came with acute respiratory infections, whose chief complains were cough mostly (45.8%). Furthermore, more patients with upper respiratory infection (URI) were observed in spring and winter, while more patients with a chief complain of fever in summer and autumn. Penicillin play a predominant role in intravenous use of antimicrobials, and ototoxic antimicrobials, such as gentamycin and amikacin, accounted for 29.6%.1.4% of the patients were treated with combination of two antimicrobials. The medical charge for children ranged between 4.8 to 13.5 Yuan (Chinese RMB) and averaged at 8.2 Yuan at 6 clinics. Conclusion Most antimicrobials were empirically administered by rural clinicians, based on their poor knowledge and experience on rational
Antimicrobial use. Further trainings on diagnosis and antimicrobial selection are needed for rural clinicians. It is necessary to strengthen the management of both antimicrobials use and the qualification of intravenous administration. Education is needed to improve the public's knowledge in use of antimicrobial as well.
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