Incidence Rate of Acute Bronchitis

Final Paper
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Final Paper
Problem Statement
The yearly incidence rate of acute bronchitis is about 5%, where most infections occur during the flu season, usually around the winter and autumn periods in America. Nearly every patient with self-diagnosed acute bronchitis symptoms seeks medical attention: over 10 million patients consult health care providers when demonstrating lower respiratory tract infection symptoms, especially bronchitis (Singh et al., 2021; Fu et al., 2021). Some of the risk factors related to acute bronchitis include a history of smoking, allergens, overcrowding, asthma, and pollutants (Singh et al., 2021). Some studies show that viruses are the etiological agents in up to a quarter of community cases, while other studies indicate a slightly higher percentage for atypical bacteria.
Some of the health concerns resulting from respiratory illness include blood-tinged sputum, difficulty breathing, higher cardiac rates, greater tachypnea, increased body temperatures, as well as a higher risk of tactile fremitus and lung consolidation (Kinkade & Long, 2016). There is a growing concern among clinicians about antibiotic abuse during the treatment and management of acute bronchitis symptoms. Studies indicate that physicians are 70% likely to give antibiotics to patients, thereby predisposing 44% of the population to develop antibiotic resistance. Studies show no significant clinical advantages from prescribing antibiotics since most symptoms are secondary to viral infections (Fu et al., 2021). The most commonly prescribed drugs are second-generation and third-generation macrolides, cephalosporins, and broad-spectrum penicillin.
Various researchers have highlighted the need to identify alternative treatment interventions due to the adverse side effects of antibiotics and the more detrimental impact of antibiotic resistance, limiting acute bronchitis patients' ability to profit from antibiotics in the future. Existing studies investigating the efficacy of antibiotics concerning the supportive treatment in treating acute bronchitis indicate no significant differences between the two interventions. Despite the growing number of studies investigating the feasibility of other interventions that can replace antibiotics as the choice of treatment for acute bronchitis, very few studies have managed to accurately demonstrate the relative efficacy of alternative treatment options concerning antibiotics. This study will fill this knowledge gap by comparing supportive treatment and antibiotics' health and life outcomes. The findings will help bolster existing results supporting alternative interventions to replace antibiotics.
Organizational Culture and Readiness
Although national guidelines founded on randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses continue to advocate against antibiotic prescribing when treating acute bronchitis, physicians in America continue to issue antibiotics in a majority of patient visits (Petrovic et al., 2019). While most clinicians understand that antibiotic prescriptions heighten the prevalence of antibiotic-resistance bacteria, raise healthcare expenses, and provide no clinical improvem...