Antimicrobial resistance seen as an emergent problem by physicians in Trinidad - Poster abstract

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To understand the influences of antibiotic prescription practices of physicians in Trinidad on emergent bacterial resistance. DESIGN AND METHOD: A pre-tested questionnaire was self-administered to physicians to determine the factors influencing the choices and outcomes of antimicrobial prescribing. RESULTS: 56 physicians with a mean of 7.1 years experience participated in the survey. The most frequent prescriptions were for urogenital infections (50 percent), respiratory tract infections (48.2 percent) and skin and soft tissue infections (46.4 percent). Amoxil was the drug of choice for respiratory infections (42.1 percent), Flagyl and Septra (17.9 percent) each for genitourinary (GU) infections and doxycycline (41.4 percent) for STD's. Only 8.9 percent of physicians prescribed antibiotics for the common cold/flu. Patient's well-being was the priority in prescribing followed by emergent bacterial resistance. Approximately 76.7 percent of participants observed resistance in the community, especially to Amoxil (26.1 percent). Overprescribing (61.7 percent) was viewed as a major contributor to resistance. Physicians would like to depend on the laboratory to curtail resistance and want more educational programmes. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the recognition of bacterial resistance as a physician concern and a need to study antibiotic use.(AU)