This interview is the second article in a series comparing antibiotic use in Japan and the United States, with a focus on outpatient pediatrics. It was supported by a reporting fellowship from the Association of Health Care Journalists and The Commonwealth Fund. The first piece described a unique incentive program in Japan that reduces antibiotic misuse by shifting doctors' default behaviors in the clinic.
On paper, doctors should know better — antibiotics treat only bacterial infections, and yet, physicians sometimes give them to patients who have viral infections. For patients, an unnecessary antibiotic can mean short-term side effects, like diarrhea, or more-persistent impacts, like microbiome disruption. But on a grand scale, t...
English (US)