Antibiotic Stewardship: Implementing the Use of Centor Scoring for Pharyngitis

Abstract

Antibiotics are prescribed at an alarmingly high rate and can lead to antibiotic resistance. Pharyngitis is one of the more common complaints seen in outpatient clinics and too often patients are sent home with antibiotics when not deemed necessary. The Centor clinical tool has been established, however often not employed, to aid providers in decision making and to determine the likelihood of a patient having bacterial strep pharyngitis. After review of the most up to date evidence-based literature, the Centor tool has proven beneficial in aiding providers in clinical decision making. The purpose of this paper is to describe the steps that were involved in initiating a Quality Improvement Project at a local urgent care. The goal was to decrease unnecessary testing and inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by incorporating the Centor scoring tool into practice for provider use when evaluating patients with complaints of pharyngitis.