Assessment of knowledge and attitude trends towards antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among the community members, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians in district Sialkot, Pakistan

Hassan Waseem,
Jafar Ali,
Fiza Sarwar,
Aroosa Khan,
Hamza Saleem Ur Rehman,
Mishal Choudri,
Nooh Arif,
Muhammad Subhan,
Aansa Rukya Saleem,
Asif Jamal and
Muhammad Ishtiaq AliEmail author

Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control20198:67

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-019-0517-3

Received: 18 February 2019
Accepted: 4 April 2019
Published: 24 April 2019

Abstract

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an emerging threat to public health worldwide. A significant evidence has suggested that the knowledge and attitude trends among the community, pharmacists and physicians can play a critical role in managing the ever increasing threat of AMR.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was performed using three specific self-administered questionnaires for community members, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians on a randomly selected sample population of 473, 424 and 308 respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression and Pearson chi-square tests were performed during data analysis.

Result

A response rate of 81.2% (n = 385), 37.7% (n = 160) and 53.9% (n = 166) was achieved for general community, pharmacists/pharmacy owners and physicians respectively. More than half of the community participants (55.6%; n = 214) possess poor knowledge of AMR. Furthermore, knowledge and attitude of the community participants were also found to be significantly correlated (r2 = 0.02) with each other. In 90.6% (n = 145) of the pharmacies included in the survey, a qualified pharmacist was not present at the time of the operations. Only 36.9% physicians (n = 60) knew about the environmental route of dissemination of AMR. Majority of the physicians agreed that AMR is a global problem and also recognize the need for initiating AMR stewardship programs.

Conclusion

Our study will provide effective assessment and potential insights in designing tri-faceted interventions for rationalizing antibiotics consumption thus controlling the development and dissemination of AMR.