Primary care doctors’ likelihood of prescribing antibiotics for acute respiratory infections increased by 1pc in their second hour of work, 14pc in the third hour and 26pc in the fourth, suggesting that physicians experience ‘decision fatigue’ over the course of a day, according to a New York Times report of an 18-month US medical study. Over-prescription of antibiotics is a widespread phenomenon: In two-thirds of the cases studied by the researchers, antibiotics were prescribed even though they were not indicated, the Times says.

(Source: The New York Times)

Published in Dawn, Economic & Business, December 15th , 2014