Primary Care Telemedicine vs In-Person Antibiotic Prescribing for Pediatric Respiratory Tract Infections

How does antibiotic management for pediatric acute respiratory tract infections compare during primary care visits conducted through telemedicine vs in person?In this cross-sectional analysis of 694 US pediatric and family medicine primary care clinics, antibiotic prescription occurred in 34.6% of primary care telemedicine visits vs 46.8% of primary care in-person visits, a significant difference. The percentage of visits with antibiotic management that aligned with the given diagnosis did not vary significantly by visit modality.These findings suggest that telemedicine visits integrated within primary care for children were associated with less antibiotic prescribing without increased follow-up visits or subsequent antibiotic prescriptions, compared with in-person visits.

Corresponding Author: Kristin N. Ray, MD, MS, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3414 5th Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 (Kristin.Ray@chp.edu).

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