scholarly journals Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices of Community Pharmacists on Antibiotic Resistance and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Lusaka, Zambia

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (10) ◽  
pp. 1005-1014
Author(s):  
Steward Mudenda ◽  
Mutinta Hankombo ◽  
Zikria Saleem ◽  
Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq ◽  
Michelo Banda ◽  
...  

Background: Antimicrobial/Antibiotic Resistance (AMR) is among the major threats to global health. Due to limited information on the subject matter in Zambia, we assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices of community pharmacists on AMR and Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS). Materials and Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 144 randomly selected community pharmacists through a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 at a 95% confidence level. The Fisher’s exact test was used to determine the relationship between sociodemographic factors of community pharmacists and their knowledge, attitude, and practices on antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. Results: A response rate of 91% (n = 144) was achieved. Interestingly, 93.8% had good knowledge while 67% had positive attitudes regarding AMR and AMS. Conversely, 75% of the community pharmacists demonstrated poor practices towards AMR and AMS. The majority of the CPs 69.4% agreed that antibiotic resistance is a public health problem. The majority of the CPs 57.6% agreed that the appropriate use of antibiotics improves patient care and outcome. Of concern, (32.6%) of CPs rarely collaborated with other healthcare workers in activities that promote infection control and AMS. Also, the majority of the CPs did not take part in antibiotic awareness campaigns nor educate the public on antibiotic use and over 80% of CPs regularly issued antibiotics without a prescription. Conclusions: Even though community pharmacists had good knowledge and positive attitudes, they demonstrated poor practices that require quick educational interventions. As most CPs issue antibiotics without a prescription, this should be highlighted as a major policy issue on AMR and should be addressed by the Government. There is a need to promote AMS sensitization programmes among community pharmacists.

Author(s):  
Steward Mudenda ◽  
Mutinta Hankombo ◽  
Zikria Saleem ◽  
Mohammad Jaffar Sadiq ◽  
Michelo Banda ◽  
...  

Antibiotic resistance is among the major threats to global health. Due to limited information on the subject matter in Zambia, we assessed the knowledge, attitude, and practices of community pharmacists on antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study among 144 randomly selected community pharmacists through a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22 at 95% confidence level. A response rate of 91% (n=144) was achieved. The majority (63%) of the community pharmacists were male and were aged between 30 and 39 years. Interestingly, 93.8% had good knowledge while 67% had positive attitudes. Conversely, 75% of the community pharmacists demonstrated poor practices towards antibiotic resistance and antimicrobial stewardship. Even though community pharmacists had good knowledge and positive attitudes, they demonstrated poor practices that require quick educational interventions. There is a need to promote antimicrobial stewardship sensitization programmes among community pharmacists. Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, attitude, community pharmacists, knowledge, practices, Zambia


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 2095
Author(s):  
Akram Alkadhimi ◽  
Omar T. Dawood ◽  
Mohamed A. Hassali

Objective: This study aimed to understand the dispensing practice of antibiotics in community pharmacy in Iraq, in addition to explore the community pharmacists' perception about dispensing antibiotics without prescription. Methods: A qualitative design was conducted on community pharmacists in Baghdad, Iraq. Pharmacists were selected conveniently from different gender, age group, pharmacy type and years of experience. Face-to-face semi-structure interview was used with all the pharmacists to get in-depth understanding about their dispensing practice of antibiotics without prescription in community pharmacy. The data was coded and classified for thematic analysis. Results: This study found that dispensing of antibiotics without prescription was a common practice in community pharmacy. Pharmacists' perception towards dispensing antibiotics without prescription was associated with the medical condition, safety and efficacy of antibiotics, patients request antibiotics by name, emergency cases, regular customer, promotions from pharmaceutical companies, saving time and cost, brand medications, and poor healthcare services. In addition, there were inadequate knowledge about antibiotic resistance and lack of awareness about antibiotic stewardship leading to inappropriate dispensing practice. Conclusions: Community pharmacists have poor perception towards dispensing antibiotics without prescription. Educational interventions about antibiotics use focusing on community pharmacists are needed. This will help to optimize the practice of dispensing of antibiotics in the community. In addition, training programs about antibiotic resistance are important to enhance pharmacists' understanding about antibiotic stewardship.


Author(s):  
Faiz Ullah Khan ◽  
Farman Ullah Khan ◽  
Khezar Hayat ◽  
Tawseef Ahmad ◽  
Amjad Khan ◽  
...  

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is an emerging global threat to public health. Substantial evidence has indicated that community pharmacists (CPs) can play a critical role in managing the ever-increasing threat of antibiotic resistance. The study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of CPs (n=180) towards antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as well as to improve the rational use of antibiotics. Two phases of mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) online study were conducted in Pakistan from August 2019 to March 2020 by using validated questionnaires and semi-structured interview data. Different statistical methods were used to tabulate the quantitative data whereas inductive thematic analysis was conducted to categorize themes from the qualitative data and draw conclusions. Approximately 64.4% were male (mean: 29-33 years old). Overall, CPs had good knowledge of and were familiar with superbugs and their roles in ABR (65.6%, Median=1, IQR=1) although they were poor in differentiating some antibiotic groups with their respective ABR patterns (31.1%, Median=1, IQR=1). Most CPs have a positive attitude towards antibiotics with most (90.0%) having identified ABR as a critical issue in public health (Median=1, IQR=0). Overall, CPs' practices towards antibiotics were reasonable where they tend to educate patients about the rational use of antibiotics (52.8%, Median=1, IQR=1). Two main themes (antibiotics and counseling of patients) were related to self-medication with while educational interventions are the sub-theme. ABR is multifactorial where the subthemes related to budget, time constraints incompetent staff, the absence of CPs, the lack of training, enforcement of laws and regulations are the need of the hour in Pakistan. Effective antibiotic stewardship programs, patient education, and awareness campaigns about antibiotics and ABR along with training of the CPs are important factors that have to be addressed in a timely manner.


Author(s):  
Mohamed Ali Alzain ◽  
Najm Eldinn Elsser ◽  
Collins Otieno Asweto ◽  
Mohammed Mohamoud Alsese ◽  
Mohammed Ismail Humaida ◽  
...  

Background: The awareness and belief of people on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention often influence their practices toward the disease. Therefore, it is essential to assess people's knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 prevention; to inform policymakers.Methods: An online survey was conducted on 1455 Sudanese adults using a pretested questionnaire. Chi-square test, spearman’s correlation, and logistic regression were used to analyse the data using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version-25.Results: The study found relatively good knowledge, attitude, and practice on COVID-19 prevention with overall correct rates of 84.6%, 88.8 %, and 78.6%, respectively. Furthermore, knowledge was positively correlated with attitude (r=0.355, P<0.001). Participants with good knowledge were more likely to have a positive attitude and practice (OR=1.36; 95%CI:1.08-1.71; OR=1.52; 95%CI:1.36-1.71), respectively than those with insufficient knowledge. While participants with a positive attitude were more than two times (OR=2.36; 95%CI:1.86-2.99) more likely to have good practice than a negative attitude. Moreover, females and married were more likely to have good practice (OR=1.37; 95%CI:1.10-1.69; OR=1.26; 95%CI:1.02-1.55), and positive attitudes (OR=1.39; 95%CI: 1.10-1.77; OR=1.45; 95% CI:1.15-1.84), respectively than their corresponding targeted counterparts. Furthermore, certain occupations (housewife, no worker, and employed) were more likely to have positive attitude and practice than the student (p<0.05). Besides, considerable participants had misconceptions regarding; effectiveness of antibiotics in combating COVID-19 (32%); almost two-thirds of participants either never wearing masks or sometimes.Conclusions: The finding concluded that relatively good knowledge, positive attitude, and desired practices against prevention of COVID-19. Therefore, a great emphasis on health awareness campaigns should focus on risk-taking practice and remove misconceptions.   


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-101
Author(s):  
Muhammad Afif Hilmi Masyfahani ◽  
Titin Sukartini ◽  
Ririn Probowati

ABSTRACT Background : Tuberculosis is a contagious disease that is spread throughout the world and is a public health problem due to high morbidity and mortality. Along with the increasing prevalence of Tuberculosis events. Objective: To determine the self efficacy picture and knowledge of Tuberculosis clients in Bangil General Hospital. Method: Descriptive research with cross sectional approach. The research sample of 70 respondents with purposive sampling which inclusion and exclusion criteria. The instrument uses a questionnaire. Results: The results showed that tuberculosis clients had good self efficacy as many as 41 people (58.6%),%), quite as many as 20 people (28.6%) and the rest had less self efficacy as many as 9 people (12.9%) . and have good knowledge as many as 36 people (51.4%). Tuberculosis clients also have good knowledge as many as 36 people (51.4%), quite as many as 24 people (34.3%) and the rest have less knowledge as many as 10 people (14.3%). Conclusion: Clients' beliefs about self-care management can increase and be able to generate enthusiasm to seek knowledge, positive attitudes and self-management skills to improve and the client's health behavior in general. Client knowledge by providing information and understanding through a module media to the Tuberculosis client regarding Tuberculosis disease so as to increase the client's knowledge regarding management of her care.   Keywords: Self efficacy, Knowledge, Tuberculosis    


Author(s):  
Faiz Ullah Khan ◽  
Farman Ullah Khan ◽  
Khezar Hayat ◽  
Tawseef Ahmad ◽  
Amjad Khan ◽  
...  

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is an emerging global threat to public health. Substantial evidence has indicated that community pharmacists (CPs) can play a critical role in managing the ever-increasing threat of antibiotic resistance. This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of CPs (n = 180) towards antibiotics and antibiotic resistance as well as to improve the rational use of antibiotics. A two-phase mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) online study was conducted in Pakistan from August 2019 to March 2020 by using validated questionnaires and semi-structured interview data. Different statistical methods were used to tabulate the quantitative data, whereas inductive thematic analysis was conducted to categorize themes from the qualitative data and to draw conclusions. Approximately 64.4% of the CPs were male (mean: 29–33 years old). Overall, CPs had good knowledge of and were familiar with multidrug-resistant organisms and their roles in ABR (65.6%, median = 1, and IQR = 1), although their knowledge was poor in differentiating some antibiotic groups with their respective ABR patterns (31.1%, median = 1, and IQR = 1). Most CPs have a positive attitude towards antibiotics, with most (90.0%) identifying ABR as a critical issue in public health (median = 1 and IQR = 0). Overall, CPs’ practices towards antibiotics were somewhat acceptable, where they leaned towards educating patients about the rational use of antibiotics (52.8%, median = 1, and IQR = 1). The two main themes discovered (antibiotics and counseling of patients) were related to self-medication, while educational intervention is the main subtheme. ABR is multifactorial, with subthemes related to budget, time constraints, incompetent staff, the absence of CPs, the lack of training, and the enforcement of laws and regulations being the needs of the hour in Pakistan. Effective antibiotic stewardship programs, patient education, and awareness campaigns about antibiotics and ABR along with training of the CPs are important factors that have to be addressed in a timely manner.


Author(s):  
Yousif Elmosaad ◽  
Ahmed Al Rajeh ◽  
Asif khan ◽  
Elfatih Malik ◽  
Ilias Mahmud

This study assessed the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) in malaria prevention using insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) among mothers of children under five years of age in White Nile State, Sudan. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select 761 mothers for this cross-sectional survey. There were gaps in the KAP in malaria prevention. Only 46.3% of the mothers stated personal protective measures (PPMs) as the best malaria prevention strategy; 54.9% considered ITNs as an effective means; and only 18.7% reported sleeping under an ITN every day. Older mothers were less likely to have good knowledge (OR=0.96), attitudes (OR=0.98) and practices (OR=0.98). Having a Government employee as the head of the household was positively associated with knowledge (OR=2.16) and attitudes (OR=1.96). The mother having a formal education was also positively associated with good knowledge (OR=1.55) and positive attitudes (OR=1.69). Mothers with a monthly household income of <491 Sudanese Pound were more likely to have good knowledge (OR=1.43). Mothers who had good knowledge (OR=4.99) and positive attitudes towards PPMs (OR=2.60) in malaria prevention were found to be more likely to practice preventive measures. Therefore, we recommend focusing on raising mothers’ awareness of the different preventive activities to protect them and their family from malaria.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s224-s224
Author(s):  
Curt Hewitt ◽  
Katharina Weber ◽  
Danielle LeSassier ◽  
Anthony Kappell ◽  
Kathleen Schulte ◽  
...  

Background: The prevalence of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) and rising levels of antimicrobial resistance place a significant burden on modern healthcare systems. Cultures are typically used to track HAIs; however, culture methods provide limited information and are not applicable to all pathogens. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) can detect and characterize pathogens present within a sample, but few research studies have explored how NGS could be used to detect pathogen transmission events under HAI-relevant scenarios. The objective of this CDC-funded project was to evaluate and correlate sequencing approaches for pathogen transmission with standard culture-based analysis. Methods: We modeled pathogen transfer via hand contact using synthetic skin. These skin coupons were seeded with a community of commensal organisms to mimic the human skin microbiome. Pathogens were added at physiologically relevant high or low levels prior to skin-to-skin contact. The ESKAPE pathogens: E. faecium, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, P. aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp plus C. difficile were employed because they are the most common antibiotic resistant HAIs. Pathogen transfer between skin coupons was measured following direct skin contact and fomite surface transmission. The effects of handwashing or fomite decontamination were also evaluated. Transferred pathogens were enumerated via culture to establish a robust data set against which DNA and RNA sequence analyses of the same samples could be compared. These data also provide a quantitative assessment of individual ESKAPE+C pathogen transfer rates in skin contact scenarios. Results: Metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis using custom analysis pipelines and reference databases successfully identified the commensal and pathogenic organisms present in each sample at the species level. This analysis also identified antibiotic resistance genes and plasmids. Metatranscriptomic analysis permitted not only gene identification but also confirmation of gene expression, a critical factor in the evaluation of antibiotic resistance. DNA analysis does not require cell viability, a key differentiator between sequencing and culturing reflected in simulated handwashing data. Sensitivity remains a key limitation of metagenomic analysis, as shown by the poor species identification and gene content characterization of pathogens present at low abundance within the simulated microbial community. Species level identification typically failed as ratios fell below 1:1,000 pathogen CFU:total community CFU. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of NGS for molecular epidemiology. The data sets produced for this study are publicly available so they can be employed for future metagenomic benchmarking studies.Funding: NoneDisclosures: None


Author(s):  
Khayal Muhammad ◽  
Muhammad Saqlain ◽  
Gul Muhammad ◽  
Ataullah Hamdard ◽  
Muhammad Naveed ◽  
...  

Abstract The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic having no therapy and pharmacists being a part of the healthcare system had a vital role in the management of COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAPs) of community pharmacists (CPs) regarding COVID-19. An online survey was conducted among 393 CPs in two provinces of Pakistan during the lockdown period. A validated questionnaire (Cronbach alpha, 0.745) was used for data collection. All statistical analysis was analyzed by using SPSS version 21. Among 393 participants, 71.5% (n=281) had good knowledge, 44% (n=175) positive attitude and 57.3% (n=225) had good practice regarding COVID-19. Social media (45.29%, n=178) was reported as the main source to seek information of COVID-19. Good knowledge, age ≥ 26 years and Ph.D. degree level were the substantial determinants (p= <0.05) of a good attitude. Similarly, community pharmacist who had an experience of >5 years, hold a Ph.D. degree, good knowledge and good attitude had higher odds of good practice as compared to reference categories (p= <0.05). In short, majority of CPs had good knowledge, but had a poor attitude and practice towards the COVID-19. Standard-structured educational and counselling programs for CPs regarding COVID-19 are needed for effective management.


Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 154
Author(s):  
Sisira Donsamak ◽  
Marjorie C. Weiss ◽  
Dai N. John

In Thailand, antibiotics are available lawfully from community pharmacies without a prescription. Inappropriate supply of antibiotics from Thai community pharmacies to the public for common, self-limiting diseases has been reported. The study aimed to evaluate the appropriateness of antibiotics selected by community pharmacists in Thailand in response to vignettes. A cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists across Thailand was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire including nine case vignettes with three conditions, namely upper respiratory infections (URIs), acute diarrhoea and simple wounds. A total of 208 questionnaires were completed and analysed (20.8% response rate). In response to vignettes relating to URIs, 50.8% of pharmacist recommendations were not in accordance with antibiotic guidelines. Inappropriate recommendations for diarrhoea and wound cases were 20.8% and 16.7%, respectively. A higher proportion of younger pharmacists, those with less experience, Pharm. D. graduate pharmacists, employee pharmacists and those pharmacists who worked in a chain pharmacy were more likely to recommend appropriate antibiotic treatment in response to the vignettes (p < 0.05). These findings will be useful to promote educational interventions for community pharmacists regarding common infectious disease management in order to improve appropriate antibiotic use.


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