Physicians’ knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward antimicrobial prescribing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objectives:To assess knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes toward antimicrobial prescribing among physicians practicing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.Methods:A questionnaire was developed and distributed to physicians working in hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between June and August 2013. The results were analyzed using Stata 12 software.Results:Two hundred and twelve (84.8%) full responses were returned. Most respondents perceived antimicrobial resistance as a significant problem in their daily practice (119, 56.1%) and at a national level (148, 69.8%). Inappropriate empirical therapy (101, 47.6%) and excessive use of antimicrobials in healthcare settings (66, 31.1%) were believed to be the main contributors to increasing bacterial resistance. Respondents favor treating infection rather than colonization (98, 46.2%), and physician education (74, 34.9%) as the most effective interventions to reduce antimicrobial resistance. Many respondents (95, 44.8%) do not feel confident in their knowledge of antimicrobial prescribing. Two-thirds of the respondents (135, 63.7%) have local antimicrobial guidelines, of which 90 (66.7%) felt were useful. Most respondents (160, 75.5%) considered their local infectious diseases service to be very helpful.Conclusion:There are considerable unmet training and education need for physicians in the area of antimicrobial prescribing. Local antimicrobial guidelines need revision to ensure they are more relevant and helpful for medical practitioners.

The knowledge, attitude and practice of health practitioners towards antibiotic prescribing and resistance in developing countries—A systematic review

“…The systematic search resulted in a total of 384 papers, with 345 papers left after removing duplicates, and 28 relevant papers upon reviewing titles and abstracts. Of these, 15 articles fulfilled our inclusion criteria upon full‐text review (Figure ), according to the United Nations, World Economic Situation and Prospects: four from Africa (two from East Africa: Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, one from North Africa: Egypt and one from West Africa: The Gambia); nine from Asia (three from East Asia: Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, four from South Asia: Bangladesh, India and two from Western Asia: Saudi Arabia); and two from Latin America and the Caribbean (one from the Caribbean: West Indies and one from South America: Peru). All the studies were cross‐sectional, 13 were quantitative studies using questionnaires, and two were qualitative studies.…”

“…Five studies reported on the participants’ knowledge on local resistance patterns of pathogens in their health facilities . Overall, an average of 39.6% was aware of the local resistance patterns .…”

“…Five studies reported on the participants’ knowledge on local resistance patterns of pathogens in their health facilities . Overall, an average of 39.6% was aware of the local resistance patterns . Quet et al reported that participants had “no information about local antibiotic resistance patterns” for typhoid fever (54.0% of the respondents) and hospital‐acquired pneumonia (65.9% of the respondents).…”

Knowledge and attitude towards antimicrobial resistance among final year undergraduate paramedical students at University of Gondar, Ethiopia

“…The data collection tool was structured questionnaire, which was developed after literature review [20–23]. The questionnaire consisted of 25 items (3 demographic, 1 source of information, 9 knowledge, and 12 attitude questions) (Additional file 1).…”

Antimicrobial Use, Prescribing, and Resistance in Selected Ten Selected Developing Countries: A Brief Overview

“…The study participants also opined that free access to antimicrobials in Saudi Arab and contemptible supervision quality regarding antibiotic use were other important determinants. Hence, this research highlights the burning necessity for carefully designed strategic policies to combat the knowledge loopholes and to develop the rational use of antimicrobials [41]. Another study conducted in Saudi Arab of 2016 revealed that 82% of respondents stated that AMDR is a global serious delinquent, and 78% also believed that such resistance trouble equally exists in Saudi Arab.…”