Management of bacterial rhinosinusitis by primary health care physicians

Sir, the recent report on the study to evaluate criteria for acute bacterial rhinosinusitis (ABRS) among primary health care physicians is very interesting.[1] Ecevit et al.[1] concluded that “General Practitioners and Family Physicians involved in conducting the basic health services did not assimilate criteria for diagnosis and treatment of ABRS.” Apart from the basic problem of this work, few subjects and low response rate, there are also other issues to be discussed. Another previous report also indicated an interesting fact that among the practitioners who correctly use the criteria for diagnosis of ABRS, a considerable number of them failed to correctly prescribed antibiotic for therapeutic purpose.[2] The interesting question is why the general practitioners did not get competency in management case of ABRS. Training at post graduation period as suggested by Ecevit et al.[1]might not be the correct solution to the problem. Since ABRS can be a common problem in general practice, inclusion of the knowledge on ABRS management into the undergraduate curriculum is recommended.

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  • Ecevit MC, Arısoy A, Memiş S, Seneger V, Tokatlı O, Sütay S. Evaluation, diagnosis and treatment criteria for bacterial rhinosinusitis among primary health care physicians. [Article in Turkish] Kulak Burun Bogaz Ihtis Derg 2011;21:192-7.
  • 2. Garau J, Dagan R. Accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of acute bacterial rhinosinusitis: minimizing bacterial resistance. Clin Ther 2003;25:1936-51.