Effect of unifaceted and multifaceted interventions on antibiotic prescription control for respiratory diseases: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials

Background The global health system is improperly using antibiotics, particularly in the treatment of respiratory diseases. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of implementing a unifaceted and multifaceted intervention for unreasonable antibiotic prescriptions. Methods Relevant literature published in the databases of Pubmed, Embase, Science Direct, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Chinese Journal Full-text (CNKI) and Wanfang was searched. Data were independently filtered and extracted by two reviewers based on a pre-designed inclusion and exclusion criteria. The Cochrane collaborative bias risk tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included randomised controlled trials studies. Results A total of 1,074 studies were obtained of which 58 were included in the systematic review. Fifty-one studies reported positive results, that is, the primary results in the intervention groups were superior to those in the control groups. The remaining 7 studies had negative or partially negative results. In 19 studies the outcome variable was the antibiotic prescription rate with detailed reports of the number of prescriptions being further analyzed, of which 17 involved educational interventions for doctors, including: (1) Online training using email, web pages and webinar, (2) Antibiotic guidelines for information dissemination measures by email, postal or telephone reminder, (3) Training doctors in communication skills, (4) Short-term interactive educational seminars, and (5) Short-term field training sessions. Seventeen studies of interventions for health care workers also included: (6) Regular or irregular assessment/audit of antibiotic prescriptions, (7) Prescription recommendations from experts and peers delivered at a meeting or online, (8) Publicly reporting on doctors' antibiotic usage to patients, hospital administrators, and health authorities, (9) Monitoring/feedback prescribing behavior to general practices by email or poster, and (10) Studies involving patients and their families (n = 9). Seventeen randomised controlled trials were rated as having a low risk of bias while 2 randomised controlled trials were rated as having a high risk of bias. Conclusion The combination of education, prescription audit, prescription recommendations from experts, public reporting, prescription feedback and patient or family member multifaceted interventions can effectively reduce antibiotic prescription rates in health care institutions. Moreover, adding multifaceted interventions to educational interventions can control antibiotic prescription rates and may be a more reasonable method. Registrations: This systematic review was registered in PROSPERO, registration number: CRD42020192560.