Reuters reports that antibiotics are not useful for most sinus infections. Excessive prescription of antibiotics has lead to large-scale resistant organisms.
Okay, this I know.
But now what? Antibiotics make patients feel better. A frequent sufferer of sinusitis, I know this. So now my patients walk away from a consultation feeling that their doctor doesn’t care about their suffering. I don’t see many doctors being happy with that.
Secondly, complications of untreated bacterial sinusitis are sever. Think meningitis, abscess formation, cellulitis. What if that happens because I didn’t prescribe antibiotics?
The logical solution seems to be taking a swab. But state healthcare simply cannot afford to process a swab for every sinus infection. Even my own medical aid can’t afford that.
So I ask again: NOW WHAT?
Reblogged this on One Girl…. and commented:
Questions we will all eventually be asking ourselves. Now what?