Anthrax attacks and practice patterns: a learning opportunity for health care systems
Jones, Jessica W. ; Kiefe, Catarina I.
Citations
Authors
Student Authors
Faculty Advisor
Academic Program
UMass Chan Affiliations
Document Type
Publication Date
Keywords
Alabama
Ambulatory Care Facilities
Anthrax
Antibiotic Prophylaxis
*Bioterrorism
Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems
Doxycycline
Drug Utilization
Fluoroquinolones
Health Services Needs and Demand
Hospitals, Veterans
Humans
Lung Diseases, Obstructive
Ofloxacin
Outpatient Clinics, Hospital
Physician's Practice Patterns
United States
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
Bioinformatics
Biostatistics
Epidemiology
Health Services Research
Subject Area
Embargo Expiration Date
Abstract
Sudden and unexpected events directly influencing clinical practice patterns are uncommon. After the first report of bioterrorism-related anthrax, the authors studied retrospectively 13 months of anthrax-related antibiotic prescription rates for Veterans Affairs outpatients in one urban area where no cases of anthrax were reported. During the 26 days after the first anthrax report, the rate of acute respiratory illnesses treated with fluoroquinolones was 62.8 per 10,000 outpatient visits, an increase of 41 percent over the rate of 44.4 observed approximately one year earlier (p = 0.058). Acute sociopolitical events such as bioterrorist attacks present a unique opportunity to investigate changes in health care.
Source
Qual Manag Health Care. 2002 Spring;10(3):31-9.