Cost of Inappropriate Use of Ciprofloxacin in Ambulatory Care

Abstract

Objective To determine the incidence of inappropriate ciprofloxacin use and the resulting cost thereof in ambulatory care. Design Retrospective cost analysis. Setting Ambulatory care clinic of a Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Patients One hundred thirty-seven ambulatory patients prescribed ciprofloxacin during March, April, and May 1992. Forty-six patient charts were available for review. Main Outcome Measure Indications for ciprofloxacin use were determined from chart review. Results Chart review of 46 of the 137 patients prescribed ciprofloxacin during the three-month study period indicated that only 8 (17 percent) had infections that were appropriately treated with this antibiotic. If 550 patients had received ciprofloxacin that year (figure extrapolated from the three-month totals), the cost of prescribing would have been $29,260. This study indicates that $20,500 per year could be saved by prescribing equally efficacious oral antibiotics. Conclusions Restricting ciprofloxacin use to its proven indications in the ambulatory setting may result in considerable cost savings to medical centers.