What prescription advice would apply in the case of an 11-year-old boy with a cough and ear pain? This scenario is reviewed as part of an educational portal for the UF Health Pediatric Antibiotic Stewardship Project.
This stewardship project helps health practitioners understand and apply current research on using antibiotics for children with acute respiratory tract infections. By the year 2027, it plans to help 24,000 sick children by working with physicians and other clinicians in Florida and Georgia. Funding comes from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and its Health Systems Implementation Initiative.
Research shows that casting a wide antibiotic net is not better than narrow-spectrum antibiotics to help children’s bodies deal with bacteria. Improving the use of antibiotics for children is this project’s primary goal.
A strong coalition of UF researchers and practitioners is leading the project. The project page from the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute shares implementation strategies and test cases to educate users. It was developed by Jennifer LeLaurin, Ph.D., and Jacqueline De La Cruz from the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics.