Antibiotics are among the most frequently prescribed and administered drugs in the ED. According to data collected from the 2000 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), antibiotics were the second most frequently used drugs in the ED (14.6%). with pain relief medications being the most frequently used drugs (32%).⁴Infection-related diagnoses were among the most common primary diagnoses associated with ED visits — among them acute upper respiratory tract infections (3.9%), otitis media (2.3%), bronchitis (1.6%), urinary tract infections (1.5%), and acute pharyngitis (1.5%).⁴