Development of an Electronic Algorithm to Target Outpatient Antimicrobial Stewardship Efforts for Acute Bronchitis and Pharyngitis

A major challenge for antibiotic stewardship programs is lack of accurate and accessible electronic data to target interventions. We developed and validated separate electronic algorithms to identify inappropriate antibiotic use for adult outpatients with bronchitis and pharyngitis.

Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for bronchitis and pharyngitis is common. Electronic algorithms for identifying inappropriate prescribing, antibiotic choice, and duration showed excellent test characteristics. These algorithms could be used to efficiently assess prescribing among practices and individual clinicians. Interventions based on these algorithms should be tested in future work.