This may be a bit hard to swallow, but not every disease process in the Emergency Department is exciting. Streptococcal pharyngitis is an incredibly common condition, especially in the Pediatric Emergency Department and I wanted to take this opportunity to answer some common questions. Who knows, perhaps after listening to this edition of PEM Currents you too will start treating strep throat with once a day dosing of Amoxicillin.
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4 replies on “Strep Pharyngitis”
Thanks for the great podcast. What about immigrants to US or Canada from countries where RF is still very prevalent, even in adults?
Good point. You must know your population and treat/test accordingly. I think this is less about the individual patient with a sore throat, and more about making decisions in facilities/departments. Like, do you stock rapid strep tests in your clinic/ED. How does everyone practice. Centor criteria use etc,.?
Each doctor we work with is at a different stage, from treating every red or sore throat with oral or parenteral antibiotics, to assessing likelihood of RF-associated strept. The Centor criteria has been a good discussion point. Would like to see it developed for a place where RF is still a big issue.
It would take a well designed QI process to accomplish that I think