Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the antibiotic treatment practice in hospitalized children, who developed community acquired pneumonia according to principles of rational antibiotic use in Sanliurfa. The Guideline for Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in Childhood by Turkish Thoracic Society (2002) formed the basis for this descriptive study, and 134 of 161 (83.2%) children with CAP diagnosis were evaluated during December 2005. In this group, 50.7% of children had pneumonia, 17.2% had severe pneumonia, and 32.1% had very severe pneumonia. The study revealed that 87.1% of total 232 antibiotics were inappropriate. Although the standart protocol recommended penicillins in the guideline, third generation cephalosporins were predominantly used. Inappropriate antibiotic use increased the cost by 60.50 YTL in each patient on average. In conclusion, the study showed that the treatment of CAP in secondary and tertiary hospitals in Sanliurfa was not compliant with the recommended regimen in the Turkish guidelines. It was considered that educational activities and control studies should be enhanced for rational antibiotic use in Sanliurfa.