Knowledge of community pharmacists about antibiotics, and their perceptions and practices regarding antimicrobial stewardship: a cross-sectional study in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

ObjectiveTo evaluate the knowledge of community pharmacists about antibiotics, and their perceptions and practices toward antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in Punjab, Pakistan.Materials and methodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among community pharmacists in Punjab, Pakistan from April 1, 2017 to May 31, 2017. A self-administered and pretested questionnaire was used for data collection. A simple random-sampling method was used to select community pharmacies. Independent-sample Mann–Whitney U tests, independent sample Kruskal–Wallis tests, and logistic regression analysis were performed with SPSS version 21.0.ResultsOf the 414 pharmacists, 400 responded to the survey (response rate 96.6%). The participants had good knowledge about antibiotics. They showed positive perceptions, but poor practices regarding AMS. All of the participants were of the view that AMS program could be beneficial for health care professionals for improvement of patient care, and 78% (n=312) of participants gave their opinion about incorporation of AMS programs in community pharmacies. Collaboration was never/rarely undertaken by pharmacists with other health care professionals over the use of antibiotics (n=311, 77.8%), and a significant proportion of participants (n=351, 87.8%) never/rarely participated in AMS-awareness campaigns. Logistic regression analysis revealed that male sex (OR 0.204, 95% CI 0.104−0.4; P<0.001), age 20–29 years (OR 0.172, 95% CI 0.05−0.595; P=0.005), and <1 year of experience (OR 0.197, 95% CI 0.083−0.468; P<0.001) were the factors associated with poor practices regarding AMS.ConclusionPharmacists had good knowledge about antibiotics. There were some gaps in perceptions and practices of community pharmacists regarding AMS. In the current scenario, it will be critical to fill these gaps and improve perceptions and practices of community pharmacists regarding AMS by developing customized interventions.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on Antibiotic Resistance Among Pharmacists at the University Teaching Hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia

“…A p<0.001 gave statistical significance. These results are similar to the results reported by other researchers 13,16,23,28,29,30 . Inappropriate use of antibiotics is well known to be one of the leading factors that cause antibiotic resistance 1,19 .…”

Knowledge, Perceptions and Practices of Community Pharmacists Towards Antimicrobial Stewardship: A Systematic Scoping Review

“…The longer duration of antibiotic therapy has been reported as a promoter of the development of AMR by two studies [44,45]. Approximately 30% of CPs often or always dispensed antibiotics for longer durations than prescribed by physicians in a survey in Pakistan [36]. Therefore, context-dependent significant attempts are required to develop AMS friendly dispensing guidelines and a strict policy to reduce the dispensing of prolonged duration antibiotics that deviates from doctors' prescriptions.…”

“…Table 1 describes the characteristics of survey studies and validity of survey tools. Ten studies [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] were conducted in six countries in the years ranging from 2015 to 2018. Survey studies were conducted in: two each from Australia, UK and Pakistan, and one from each of Malaysia, Qatar, Canada, and Ethiopia.…”

“…Breadth of survey studies152We identified 1860 articles, of which 68 were full text reviewed after the screening of titles and 153 abstracts. Ten surveys[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] were included in this review(Figure 1).…”

The effect of educational intervention on healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitude, & practice towards antimicrobial stewardship program at, National Liver Institute, Egypt

“…For the respondents' physicians and pharmacists, the self-administered questionnaire was adapted from previous studies with similar objectives [14,15]. Another questionnaire designed in the Arabic language and referenced from previous studies with similar objectives was designed for nurses [5,16].…”