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10>>What does anyone think of this? 10>>On Friday I saw a lady who had a simple sore throat, took a T/S, gave usual 10>>advice re PCM etc and off she went. Monday am she was first patient v. angry 10>>"you ruined my week-end, I had the doctor out on Friday night only 8 hrs after snip....... 10>>most pissed off. What would you have done? 10>Ask yourself what you would have done if you had a sore throat bad enough to go 10>to the inconvenience of taking time out to make an appointment with 10>somebody about because it was important to get well as soon as possible (like 10>taking the MRCGP tomorrow). Most docs would take a handful of antibiotic 10>after stopping for 10 microseconds to justify it. Why should patients be 10>entitled to less? It all boils down to values in the end, and if you think 10>the values of others do not deserve respect you could become an unhappy doc. The evidence that penicillin makes much difference is slim. Ten day courses reduce the length of illness only by about 36 hrs (See both BMJ and D & TB last eighteen months or so) The main rationale used to be to reduce rheumatic fever and Glom Neph - both v rare now Antibiotic usage has gone up by 48% nationally in the last 11 years, and locally 20% in the last three years. The number of AB items per Astro-PU varies in local practices by a factor of _six_. How can this be? Pneumococci resistance is rising in UK and in the USA. Ten years ago resistance in Atlanta was 0.02% now it is 25%. The same story is true of other bacteria, MRSA and clost diff, AFBs to name three potential time bombs. Doctors have a responsibility to prescribe cautiously. ______________________________________________________________ Dr. David Jobson The Surgery, Main St Surgery Tel +44 (0)1728 830526 Leiston Surgery Fax 832029 Suffolk Home Tel 831100 IP16 4JG email [log in to unmask] * SLMR 2.1a * %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%